War of Angels: Collision
by The Aberrant One
Summary: Project Cadmus succeeded in acquiring an asset from a parallel Earth to use against the possibility of the Justice League going rogue. What Amanda Waller failed to realize was that unwanted "guests" from the other Earth ended up being brought into this one. As for the asset...he's not very happy about being a guest at CADMUS.
1. Arrival of the Pink Terror

Disclaimer: Aberrant, owned by White Wolf Games and Onyx Publishing. Justice League Unlimited, owned by DC. The Incredibles (though only one character will be showing up from that 'verse in the story until near the end) are owned by Pixar and Brad Bird.

 **Author's Note:**

First off, yes, this is a re-write/repost of "War of Angels: Collision". Why? Because I took the time to go through the five previous "War of Angels" stories, did some revising/editing/typo-error correction and I figured I should do the same with this one. As I stated before and in the other fics, this fic is a spin-off from "War of Angels V: Defiance and Insurrection". For those of you just jumping on to this fic, you might want to read the other stories before reading this one (though I will be providing a recap here in these author notes). Originally, I was going to actually have this be part of the main fic, but I decided to break it up into a "spinoff" because I wanted to proceed with some other storylines and it was best to keep this one in it's own contained story. Eventually things will cross over between this fic and D&I because David and most of the others who are stuck in this 'verse do get back home. But, as of the posting (reposting) of this chapter...expect this fic to be it's own separate adventure from D&I (kind of like Legends of Tomorrow is to the Flash/Arrow 'verse).

For those of you who are JLU fans, this fic will take place right after the episode "Task Force X". If you want to figure out what's going on, you can read chapters 19 through 26 of "War of Angels V: Defiance and Insurrection" or you can just read the "quick and dirty" recap here.

And here's the quick and dirty recap as promised: Project CADMUS, desperate for technology that would allow them face the Justice League if they went rogue (like they did in the Justice Lords storyline) found a way to access alternate realities thanks to attempts to reverse engineer salvaged boom tube technology and Thanagarian technology from previous invasion attempts by those races (and others). They discovered another alternate Earth and decided on a plan to acquire technology this world had which could be used against super-powered beings. The plan was simple, hit multiple targets and cause massive collateral damage before hitting the true target and kidnapping the individual they wanted. Unfortunately, the early teams met with failure, and resulted with others from that world being dragged into this one.

That pretty much sums it up. For those of you familiar with my main story, you know who these characters are. Zoe, Bomber, Slapstick, Jack Parr, and David are the ones who get pulled in to the JLU world. Needless to say, I almost killed this idea...until I watched the episodes of Justice League "Legends Part 1 and 2". Though I'm not going to rip off that idea, it did give me some ideas and I do plan on referencing that episode in this fic.

Update: Going through the previous chapters to look for more typos and clean things up, will be doing this over the next few days. Also decided to move this into the "Justice League" section because there is no "Aberrant" section to cross it over with and people were confused as to why I had it listed as a White Wolf crossover (which, it technically is, but most people here don't seem to realize that Aberrant WAS a White Wolf property).

* * *

" _This must be what a parallel universe is like', I thought. Everything looked the same, but I suddenly felt like it wasn't. Like everything had been taken apart, brick by brick, flower bed by flower bed, and put back together in the wrong order. Just like me."_

-Jordanna Frabergberg

* * *

 _ **Centennial Park**_

 _ **Metropolis**_

Located in the borough of New Troy, Centennial Park was known worldwide for its appeal. Aside from being one of the largest public city parks in the world, it boasted many attractions that brought tourists from all over the globe. It had once been compared to New York's Central Park as "Central Park's twin brother, but not with as much garbage and less criminal scum". While some people found that comparison insulting, it was was pretty accurate. However, Metropolis still saw its share of crime despite the presence of its resident heroes. Granted, it wasn't as much as New York and Gotham City, but there were still some criminal elements.

For example, a gang of five teenagers had just mugged a couple of tourists and had vanished deeper into the park. For a bunch of punks, this group was fairly organized. One of them was constantly carrying a laptop and checking out the newsfeeds in regards to the Justice League, particularly members like Superman and Supergirl. Whenever the news reported some emergency involving the League, this crew of kids knew it was time to strike unsuspecting tourists in the park.

The leader of this gang was a seventeen year old Caucasian male who called himself "Iceman". Standing at six-foot four, weighing about two hundred pounds, and sporting a muscular build that suggested he was taking "special" supplements in addition to hitting the gym, "Iceman" was quite the imposing figure. Three of his four companions, Ace, Niko, and Blade were also teammates of his on his high school football team. Like Iceman, they were in good shape. And then there was Chance, the fifth member of Iceman's little squad and probably the most dangerous.

Unlike the others, Chance was not an athlete. He was a scrawny looking kid, wore goggles, and always had his laptop with him. He was their "eyes and ears", as Iceman once put it, "the guy who always has a plan". Niko once made the mistake of trying to bully Chance and ended up getting tazered for his trouble. When asked about where the "little freak" came from, Iceman merely replied that Chance was his neighbor and that Chance's father worked for LexCorp.

So, when the Justice League was called out on an emergency, Superman had taken off to help with the evacuation of some island out in the Pacific that was about to be destroyed by volcanic eruption. Chance did a little digging and discovered that Supergirl was somewhere in the state of Kansas (which seemed to be a place she went to regularly). Within a couple hours, Chance had disabled the security systems to a couple homes where the five youths helped themselves to some valuables before winding up their day in the park where they mugged some unsuspecting tourists from out of town.

And now, the five of them were smoking and drinking some beer in front of one of the statues of Superman in the park, celebrating their latest exploits. Chance was tapping away on his laptop, cruising through E-Bay as he put some items on line. "Hey, Niko," Chance called out.

"Yeah, shrimp," Niko replied, though there was no malice in his voice. "What's up?"

"You know that doll you lifted from the condo we hit earlier today? Where is it?"

"Stashed in the van, why?"

"You might wanna' sell it."

"No way, man, I'm giving it to my sister's kid as a present."

"What you got is one of the original 'Sally Sass' dolls that came out in the late 70s. The one you got might be worth nine grand."

"Whoa...really?"

"Yep."

"Then the hell with my sister's kid, I'll buy her some cheap doll from Wal-Mart."

Iceman chuckled and leaned back against the foot of Superman's statue. He kind of enjoyed these "after" sessions where they all got together and Chance would help them set up ways to sell off the stuff they stole for a good profit. "Hey, Chance, what about the diamonds we got?" he asked. "I know we'll take a hit because they could be tracked, but we can get something for them, right?"

"Ah, bossman, have some faith in me," Chance laughed. "Yeah, we will take a hit, but I linked up with a buyer from Little Byalia in Gotham. He's offering us twenty grand free and clear."

"Awesome." Iceman raised his beer. "Gentlemen, a toast to all of us and the fun times we've had these last couple years."

The others did the same, though Blade had a concerned look on his face. "Don't get me wrong, Ice, but you sound like things are coming to an end."

"Well, they are," Iceman said. "I mean, we're just kids...we'll be graduating in a few months, then we're going to be adults in the big bad world."

"So we're just going to call it quits?" Ace asked. "We have a good thing going."

"Yeah, but we're not gonna' be kids forever," Iceman replied. "Chance is going to college, I'll probably head there too, and I'm sure you guys got plans."

"True," Blade agreed. The Hispanic young man then shrugged. "But it doesn't mean we should stop. I mean, college doesn't come cheap and I have to admit this is one way to pay for it."

"Speak for yourselves," Niko said. "Unlike you guys, I don't have the money for a university, so I figure I'll take the other route."

"Seriously, Niko?" Chance asked. "No offense, but the Marines aren't your style."

"Hell no," Niko laughed. "I'm thinking the Army. Although I'm sure they'd reject me if they found out about our extra-curricular activities."

"Doesn't mean we should just quit now," Blade said.

"Who said anything about giving all this up?" Iceman shook his head. "I'm just saying that we won't be able to get away with this kind of stuff as we get older. Perhaps we should just use the next year or two to up our game and then move on to bigger things."

This time it was Chance who started laughing, getting a few glares from the rest of the crew.

"What's so funny?" Niko asked.

"I'm sorry, but what Ice says makes sense," Chance said. "It's just...look at us. We're a bunch of juvenile delinquents with criminal tendencies and here we are talking about carefully plotting our future and planning ahead. We definitely don't fit the 'gang' stereotype."

"Well, we are 'children' of the 21st century," Ace offered, making air-quote gestures with his hands. "I guess we're setting the new mold of the-"

A loud booming noise cut Ace off and all five young men were knocked to the ground by the small shock wave coming from the glowing portal that opened up about a hundred feet away from them.

"What the hell is that?" Niko yelled.

"Boom tube," Chance hollered back as he grabbed his laptop before the blast of wind coming from the portal could blow it away.

"Oh shit!" Blade screamed, his voice echoing the fear that the others were feeling. "Of all the times for Superman to be out of town...right when that Darkseid motherfucker decides to invade us-"

And then, just as suddenly as it appeared, the portal closed with a loud popping noise, leaving all five youths to look on in disbelief at what had come out of the portal.

"Aw shit...I think I'm gonna' throw up now," the lone invader said as she got up on her knees. "No...scratch that...not gonna' do that, wouldn't be cool."

Iceman, Chance, Niko, Blade, and Ace stayed where they were, not sure what to make of this invader as the pink haired girl staggered up on her feet,

"Whoa...dizzy now," she said as she stumbled a couple steps before recovering and looking down at herself. "Okay...still in one piece, not sucked into some hell dimension, not sucked into space." She looked up in the sky. "Okay, one sun...and I see clouds in a blue sky...okay, still on Earth...maybe."

Iceman studied the invader, looking her over. She appeared to be about seventeen or eighteen, was wearing blue jeans, a black t-shirt, neon pink high-tops, and had pink hair.

"Bossman," hissed Niko in the loudest whisper he could muster, "is she one of those Apokalips things?"

"Not sure, Nicky," Iceman replied shaking his head as he and the others slowly got up, not realizing he called Niko by his real name.

"Okay...time to look around," the pink-haired girl said. "Green grass, trees...okay, water fountains over there...confused batch of guys sitting over there...they don't look like aliens and they're wearing normal looking clothes." She then looked directly at them. "Yo!" she shouted. "Am I still on planet Earth?"

For a moment, no one answered.

"Hello?" she asked as she walked towards them, pausing for a moment to reach down and pick up some sort of device off the ground. She suddenly stopped halfway, a worried expression on her face. "Oh shit, I'm in another country, aren't I? Can any of you speak English?"

"Of course we can speak, English," Ace snapped. "We're in America, lady!"

"Easy Ace," Iceman said. "She's as confused as we are."

"Hey, ease off the 'tude, moron," the pink-haired girl fired back at Ace. "I just got sucked through a glowing portal thing," she held up the device she had picked up, "thanks to this piece of trash that is apparently not working, and I haven't had my morning mocha, dammit!"

"Um, Ice," Chance said, adjusting his goggles as he looked at the approaching girl.

"Yeah, Chance?"

"That device she has in her hand," Chance said. "That's what the Daily Planet called a 'Boom Tube' generator."

"What," the girl said, holding up the device, "this? You know what this is?"

Chance ignored her. "If we can get a hold of that, I can take it to my Dad and he can take it to work, and we could get a finder's fee for it."

"Finder's fee?" Pink Haired asked. "Hello? I'm right here, someone talk to me."

"Shut up, bitch," Ace said. "We'll get to you in a second." He then glanced over at Chance. "How much are we talking about here?"

Chance grinned. "Oh, about a million bucks."

Iceman looked over at the girl whose eyes widened a little in shock before narrowing as her lips suddenly formed into a smirk. "Don't think of running," he warned her. "There's five of us, and I think we can outrun you. Hand over the device and we'll let you go."

As they stepped towards her, the girl shook her head for a second and giggled softly. "Seriously," she said, "are you guys really that stupid?"

"Don't you mean to ask if you yourself are that stupid?" Niko asked. His question caused the others and paused to look at him for a moment. "Seriously...usually, in this kind of situation, the one being the target makes some comment like 'Do I look that stupid to you?' or something like that, because you know the target isn't going to believe anything the attacker says." Once again, everyone, including the pink haired girl looked at him. "Seriously, that's usually how it goes. I mean, she has something we want, we're going to take it from her, but what are we going to do with her after we get the item from her?"

"Oh, I know what I'd do to her," Ace sneered as he looked at her. "Bitch doesn't talk like that to me."

"Okay, 'Roid Boy, you better reel it in or I will make you a eunuch within the next thirty seconds."

"That's not going, to happen," Iceman said as he saw Chance already reaching into his coat for his customized 'stunner. "We're just going to knock you out, take the device, and leave."

"Wow," the girl said. "That almost sounds gentlemen-like of you." Then she smiled at him, a mischievous look in her eyes. "So I will give you a counter-offer; let me walk out of here, you go about your business, and your buddy over there gets to keep his balls."

Niko and Blade laughed and Iceman had to force himself from chuckling at that. He had to admit that he liked this girl, she had some spunk. _It's too bad things aren't different,_ he thought, _I actually might have been interested in you._

"Last chance," he said gesturing with his fingers for Chance to use the 'stunner.

Chance, on cue, suddenly pulled out his customized tazer and fired. Having seen him use it several times, Iceman knew his friend's aim was on target. A second later, the target would be down on the ground writhing for a few more seconds before going unconscious.

Or, she would have been, had she not disappeared in a blur and Ace suddenly keeled over, hands over his crotch and crying out in pain as he went down. There was a slight gust of wind before Niko and Blade went down a couple seconds later.

"Oh shit," Chance cried out, "she's a metahuman."

"Actually, the term is 'nova'." Both Chance and Iceman turned around to see the girl standing behind them, holding Chance's laptop. "Metahuman sounds so...comic-bookey."

"Is that even word?" Chance asked. "And hey, that's mine!"

"Actually, it's mine now...oh, and, before I forget," she raised her left hand and bolts of electricity shot out, shocking Chance and knocking him out. "That's for trying to tazer me."

"So," the girl said as she put the laptop under one arm. "Your name is Ice?"

"Nickname actually," Iceman replied. "They call me the Iceman on the football team because I'm cold, calculating, calm, and focused."

"And here I thought you were a little gang of high school thugs."

Iceman shrugged. "Well, we are, actually." He wasn't going to deny it, not when facing off against a meta-human who was super-fast, shot electricity, and took his crew down. He knew he was in a losing situation, but he was going to stay cool about it. "Yeah, we do some criminal things, but we try not to attract Superman's attention and only pull jobs when he is out of town on something major."

That was when the girl did something he wasn't expecting. First, her eyes blinked a couple times, then they widened, and then...she started laughing. "Seriously?" She almost dropped the laptop she was carrying as she fell to her knees, laughing loudly. "Oh my god! That was hilarious. I mean, the delivery was so calm and rehearsed...you almost sound convincing." She laughed for a few more seconds before catching her breath. "Okay," she said as she got back up on her feet. "That was good...seriously. You should be in a movie if they ever make those again. Superman out of town...funny line...you almost made it sound real."

Now it was Iceman's turn to be confused. "What do you mean?" he asked. "Of course he's real, look at the statues."

The girl giggled again. "Okay, this is kind of funny, but I think the joke's starting to wear out now. But seriously, 'Iceman', what's your real name? Oh, never mind." She blurred out for a moment and he felt a gust of wind brush by him before she reappeared now holding his driver's license. Theodore Edward Morrison the Third. Cool name, and it says you're from...no...fucking...way."

This time, the girl did drop the laptop, causing Iceman aka Theodore "I prefer being called Ted or Iceman" Morrison the Third to wince slightly, though he was certain it didn't suffer damage being dropped into the grass like that.

The girl was still looking at his driver's license, now holding it with both hands. "Metropolis, Delaware," she read. "But that's impossible, this can't be real."

Ted started to approach her, but stopped when she looked up and raised a hand crackling with electricity. "That's close enough," she said.

"Look," Ted said, raising his hands to indicate he meant no harm. "I'm not sure what's going on."

"Well, that makes two of us," she snapped.

"But I'm guessing you're not from around here," he continued. "After all, you did fall through a glowing portal thingy...but this is definitely real." He then gestured with a nod of his head. "Look behind you if you don't believe me."

The girl cautiously glanced over her shoulder. Then she dropped Ted's license on the ground. "No...way...that's not possible." She blurred out for a moment again before reappearing in front of one of the many statues of Superman that were in the park. She blurred out again, whizzing by Ted who didn't move for a whole minute.

He then waited another minute to make sure she was gone before he went to check on Chance and the others. He only got a few steps when the girl reappeared in front of him, shock and disbelief on her face. "This...this...really is Metropolis," she quietly stammered. "Home of Superman and the Daily Planet paper with it's spinning globe thing on top of the building."

"Um...yeah," Ted said, nodding in agreement. "It is and has been for as long as I can remember."

The girl shook her head again. "I'm in a comic book world that is actually real...that's seriously fucked up."

"Comic book?"

"Never mind," the girl said as she seemed to come back to reality. "Okay, Mr. Theodore Edward Morrison the Third-"

"Ted," he said, cutting her off.

"Excuse me."

"Just call me Ted," he said. "I really don't like the mouthful of names."

"Okay, fine, Ted it is then." The girl then handed him his driver's license which he took back. "Obviously, you and your little crew are criminals, but you seem like a decent guy for a self-admitted high school thug and jock. So, you collect your friends and go home." She then held up Chance's laptop. "This, however, is going to stay with me for a little bit. I'll give it back to you when I'm done with it."

"What are you going to do with it?"

The girl gave him an evil grin. "What I do best, Teddy, though I suspect it might take me a little time to figure out some of the differences of your world wide web and the one I grew up with. See ya around." And then she vanished again in blur followed by a gust of wind.

Only to come back a couple seconds later. "Oh, and one more thing," she said as she walked over to where Ace was lying on the ground. That was when Ted realized she no longer had the laptop, but was now holding a roll of duct-tape. "Tell your friend he brought this on himself." She blurred out again for few seconds. When she returned to normal, Ace's clothes were on the ground and Ace was wrapped up in duct tape except for his eyes ears and nose. Then she looked back at him and gave him wink and a smile before vanishing again in pink blur.

And, once again, he just stood there, mentally replaying everything that had happened in the last fifteen minutes He wasn't sure how or why, but he sensed...no, he knew...that something big was coming and his little crew was at ground zero. And for the first time in his life, Theodore "I really would like to be called Ted, dammit" Edward Morrison the Third was hit with a thought he never imagined himself thinking.

 _Okay, what the fuck just happened?_


	2. Two Idiots Arrive in Gotham

Disclaimer: Aberrant, owned by White Wolf and Onyx Publishing. Justice League is owned by DC and Warner Brothers.

Author's Notes: Okay, everyone's two favorite crazy idiots from my "War of Angels" 'verse have arrived. As you know, Zoe ended up in Metropolis...guess where these two crazy bastards landed?

Okay, I'm pulling some of my info on Gotham from various sources. They never really say what state cities like Gotham and Metropolis are in, but a lot of fans (and even some actual published source material) place Gotham and Metropolis in New Jersey and Delaware. I'm going to go with that since it kind of makes sense (never understood why they put Metropolis in Kansas in the Smallville series). Also, I'm using source material from the DC Adventures source books (which gives a detailed set up on various cities in the DCU which is where I got information on Burnley Borough from Gotham). By the way, for some of you old school DC fans, yes, the "Cauldron" is the same neighborhood Tommy Monaghan aka "Hitman" is from. Sadly, I'm accepting the fact the Tommy Monaghan has already died before the events of Justice League Unlimited (I think it was also mentioned in one of the episodes).

* * *

 _I'm not sick, but I'm not well  
And I'm so hot 'cause I'm in hell_

 _Been around the world and found  
That only stupid people are breeding  
The cretins, cloning and feeding  
And I don't even own a TV_

 _Put me in the hospital for nerves  
And then they had to commit me  
You told them all I was crazy  
They cut off my legs now I'm an amputee, goddamn you_

 _I'm not sick, but I'm not well  
And I'm so hot, 'cause I'm in hell  
I'm not sick, but I'm not well  
And it's a sin to live so well_

-Harvey Danger, "Flagpole Sitta'"

* * *

 _ **Burnley Borough aka "The Cauldron"**_

 _ **Gotham City, New Jersey**_

The borough known as Burnley is located on Gotham's lower east side. It's home to various warehouses, a couple shipyards, and a few marinas. The marinas are well guarded since that is where the wealthy denizens of Gotham kept their luxury yachts. However, the rest of Burnley looked like your stereotypical waterfront district. In other words, it wasn't the safest place to be. Criminals and legitimate business operated out of Burnley which seemed to be a battleground between the Italian and Irish American crime families that saw Burley as their little kingdom within Gotham to fight over.

Tonight, was just another night in Gotham City, and it was business as usual in Burnley. Oddly enough, Gotham's famed protector, The Batman, tended to stay out of Burnley unless something major attracted his attention. If one of Arkham's more infamous residents were terrorizing the area, Batman would show up. If a major criminal figure was getting too big for his britches and was entertaining the crazy idea he was going to expand and take over Gotham, The Batman would be there to smack him down. If there was an alien invasion, The Batman would be there to as well.

However, this was one of the more routine nights. Drug dealers were dealing, pimps were pimping, tweakers were tweaking, and there were the usual business deals, robberies, and the occasional murder that rounded out the night. In this case, members of the Zucco Crime family (or what was left of them) and their goons were in the middle of a business deal with members of the Red Viper Triad in one of the many warehouses on waterfront.

The Vipers were just offloading several crates of pure-grade heroin and the Zucco crew were helping load up the product on a couple trucks. Vincent "Call me Vinnie and I'll rip your fucking throat out" Zucco handed two brief cases to the Red Viper leader.

"As agreed, here's the initial two million for the delivery," Vincent said. "I trust your people will be in touch the usual time?"

The Red Viper enforcer known only as Trahn nodded. "Of course," the conservatively dressed Asian man replied. "In forty-eight hours, I will call you using the disposable phone you usually pack in one of these cases and you can give us the details on the rest of the money transfer." He then gave Vincent an honest smile. "You are a shrewd businessman, Vincent Zucco. You may yet return your family back to glory."

"Nothing shrewd about it," Vinccent said, shrugging his shoulders. "I have people divide and cut the merchandise, we start selling it, and I cut you in for forty percent while the extra twenty percent on my share goes into other enterprises we can profit from."

"I must confess that I was initially unhappy with our arrangement. You receiving sixty percent seemed unacceptable, but you have been fair in your dealing with us."

Vincent chuckled at that. "Of course I have, because I don't want a war which will result with one side losing and the other one left so weak that they'll be finished off by whoever comes along. Besides, putting that twenty percent aside for other endeavors paid off."

"Indeed. Using it to pay off various officials and even invest in legitimate business deals which you are willing to bring us in on has been very profitable for all involved." Trahn paused for a moment, letting his words sink in. "It makes me wonder what you are planning in the long run."

"If you have something on your mind, Trahn, go ahead and say it."

"It is obvious that you are planning something big, Vincent. I am curious as to what it is and how this will affect our arrangement in the future."

In response, Vincent sighed and then walked to the edge of the dock they were standing on and gestured at the area around them with his arms. "You know what they call this place, Trahn? The worst part of Gotham. The sad part is that it was actually, at one time, one of the most vibrant parts of the city. Aside from being a center for commerce, this area was alive back in the day...there were theaters, restaurants, and clubs of all sorts back here in the day. But all that died about thirty years ago. A few blocks up from here is a street once known as Park Row, but it's called Crime Alley now."

"What happened?" Trahn asked, truly curious. One of the things he liked about this associate was the man's sense of history and appreciation for times past.

"It was where Thomas and Martha Wayne were murdered. Their son saw it happen right in front of him."

"Wayne? As in Bruce Wayne?"

"Yep."

Trahn nodded in understanding. "Ah, I see. The death of such a prominent couple poisoned the area."

"Pretty much," Vincent continued, "and it went downhill from there. Now, only the lowest of scum now rule this decaying area." Then he gave Trahn a big grin. "But I intend to change that. I know it's going to take several years, but I intend to rebuild this place. Yeah, we may be criminals, but we have a code to live up to...or we will end up being like the filthy trash that runs the Cauldron...those drunken Irishmen with delusions of grandeur."

Trahn clasped his hands together and brought them up to momentarily rest against his chin, a thoughtful look on his face. "A man of vision," he mused, "the others call you eccentric, but I can respect a man who appreciates history."

"It's the only way to figure out how to build a better future," Vincent said. He then glanced over at the decaying tenement buildings off in the distance. "Those bastards who took over let this once great borough slide into the gutter. It's going to take a lot of time and effort, but I intend to get rid of these scum and restore this place to greatness. Imagine it, Trahn, a place where we can do business both legitimately and otherwise and people will flock to it so they can be a part of it."

"It's a good dream," Trahn conceded. "But we'll need more than what we have now. We'll need backers."

"Yeah, I know, but I think I can put some feelers out and, hey...did you say 'we?'"

"I did. I assumed you planned on eventually asking me about this."

"Well, yeah, but I was kind of hoping to give you a better sale pitch instead just some crazy rambling about dreaming about the future."

Trahn smiled at him. "Visionaries are usually the best dreamers, Vincent. They also want to make their dreams a reality. And I want on board this venture when it starts." He then extended his hand. "I might even be willing to talk to some contacts in Hong Kong."

Vincent shook the other man's hand. "Then welcome aboard, my friend. The future begins now...and nothing's gonna' stop us."

"Indeed."

Unfortunately for Vincent and Trahn, their shared dream of a building a new empire came crashing down in the form of a giant "booming" sound as a glowing portal opened up in the sky above them. The shock wave from portal knocked several people off their feet including Trahn and Vincent.

Having witnessed a couple of these attacks whether via the newsfeeds or actually living through one, almost everyone grabbed a weapon. Many remembered the invasion from a few years ago when the alien warlord known as Darkseid had brainwashed Superman and attacked the planet. Others remembered the invasions from the Imperium and the Thanagarians from over a year ago.

Needless to say, everyone had their weapons pulled out and pointed at whatever was about to come through that alien portal.

"OH SHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIT!" screamed the two "alien invaders" as they fell out of the portal. One of the invaders landed in the middle of one of the SUVs , caving in the roof of the vehicle and setting off its car alarm. The other invader hit the ground right in front of Trahn and Vincent with meaty thud and a crunch that caused both men to actually wince.

Then, suddenly, a third body fell out of the sky, landing on one of the pallets of heroin that had yet to be loaded. Vincent happened to look over and noticed the body landing in the remains of the smashed pallet was missing an arm and was definitely dead.

 _If the blood loss from losing his arm didn't kill him, the fall definitely did._

There was a loud "popping" noise and everyone looked up as the portal winked out of existence.

"Well," Trahn said, breaking the silence that seemed to have fallen over everyone after the event. "That was unexpected."

Vincent rolled his eyes and shook his head. "Now that was an understatement," he said as he approached the dead body of the man that landed in front of him. "C'mon, help me toss this poor bastard in the water, and his two buddies before we attract any-"

The "dead" body suddenly spasmed, causing everyone to jump back.

"FUCK!" the dead (well, make that assumed dead but currently not) man screamed as he sat up. "THAT FUCKING HURT!"

"Dude, not so loud," came another voice. Everyone turned in the direction of the caved in SUV and saw the arms of the other apparently not dead man start to move. "I have a headache as it is...so enough with the yelling already."

"Oh, you're gonna' have more than headache asshole," said the first invader as he stumbled up to his feet. When he managed to stand, he reached over with his left arm and punched his right shoulder. There was a sickening crack as a joint popped back into place, causing both Vicncent's and Tranhn's crews to wince. Then the man started to stagger over to the SUV, ignoring the guns being pointed at him. "I asked you...I. FUCKING. ASKED. YOU. I asked you and you said there was NO scheme, NO evil plan, and NO one was coming after you."

The man on the SUV rolled off the vehicle and managed to land on his feet, though his knees did buckle slightly from the impact. "Cry me a goddamn river, Jean," he snapped. "You didn't land on a goddamn SUV...shit." He coughed up some blood and shook his head. "Fuck, I think I punctured a lung on impact."

"I don't give a shit, Nick!" the one called Jean snapped as he reached out and grabbed the one he called Nick by the front of his bloody shirt. "This was just going to be a lazy Friday. Me and my girl just chillin' and taking a long weekend. But no, you had to fucking show up and ruin it!"

"Fuck you, man!" Nick shot back as he headbutted Jean, causing the other man to drop him and stumble backwards a few steps. "Keep in mind I saved your sorry ass not too long ago...by the way, you're welcome you grateful piece of shit! Besides, you should be thanking me again."

"Thanking you!?"

"Yeah, face it, Jean...you're getting soft. I mean, you're usually a crazy happy go-lucky killer like me, but now you're settling down with daughter of someone who is supposed to your enemy." Then he paused for a moment, his anger vanishing to be replaced by curious look on his face. "Although, I gotta' ask...when you fuck her, does she go invisible when she climaxes...and when she does, does Mr. Happy disappear along with her or is it visible."

"FUCK YOU!" Jean was about to punch Nick while Nick brought up an arm to block when they both, for the first time, noticed they were surrounded by a bunch of guys with guns.

"Gentlemen," Vincent said, addressing both men.

Both Nick and Jean looked around for a moment.

"Dude, I think he means us," Nick mock whispered.

"You sure about that? Because we're so used to being called worse."

"True."

"And, hold on a second." Jean looked around for a moment. "Wasn't it morning when we left?"

"Yeah, it was."

"Think we died and went to Hell?"

"Nah, man, Hell wouldn't smell like fish and urine."

By now, Vincent was getting annoyed. "Yes, you two morons," he said. "I am talking to you."

"So he WAS talking to us."

"I guess so."

"Who are you? Who do you work for?" These question came from Trahn.

"Okay," Jean said as he raised his hands after making a quick assessment of the situation. "You probably recognized us from our videos."

A puzzled look crossed Vincent's face. "Videos?"

"You know...Youtube and ViaView? I'm Bomber, he's Slapstick...surely you've heard of us."

"We don't have time for this," Vincent snapped as he looked over at Trahn who nodded in agreement. "Light these two bastards up."

Both Jean and Nick were riddled with at least a hundred bullets as they received what Nick would call "The Pulp Fiction Treatment".

After a few seconds, everyone stopped shooting. Vincent and Trahn looked at the two bullet riddled bodies and then at each other.

"Ouch," Vicncent quipped, "that looked like that might have hurt."

"Indeed," Trahn said. Then everyone laughed and started to get back to the job of preparing the drugs for transport.

"So, where were we?" Vincent asked as he and Trahn were walking back to where the men were loading the trucks.

"We were talking about the future," Trahn replied.

"Ah yes," someone said behind them. "The Future."

Both men stopped dead in their tracks and turned around...to see two bloody bodies standing upright, bullets being pushed out as their wounds started to heal.

"It's funny, Nick," Jean said, "that these idiots think they actually have one."

"Oh yeah, Jean, hilarious," Nick said as he brought up his right arm and a katana suddenly appeared in a flash of light in his hand. "They won't be making that mistake again."

Then more gunfire echoed through the Gotham night, followed by the sound of several men screaming. A few minutes later, an explosion rattled the docks as the warehouse that the now late Vincent Zucco had owned exploded, scattering, debris, body parts, and the dead dreams of rebuilding a criminal empire.

* * *

A couple blocks away, two bloody men in tattered clothing stumbled into an alley before dropping to the ground and leaning against a wall.

"Okay," Nick said, "that was fun, but I really don't want to go through that again for at least a day or two."

"Ditto," Jean said, hoisting up one of the semi-charred briefcases he had taken from the warehouse they blew up. "Let's see what we got here."

"Any chance it'll give us a clue where we are?" Nick asked.

"I'm guessing somewhere on the East Coast," Jean guessed. "Not sure I recognize where but," he paused for a moment to sniff the air, "I think it smells like 'Jersey."

"Shit, not Jersey." Nick groaned. "I hate the place."

"You and me both, buddy," Jean said as he pressed the release latches to the briefcase. Then he let out a low chuckle after he opened the case and saw the contents. "But...I think it might be worth it."

"What is it?"

Jean turned the case around so Nick could see the multiple bundles of hundred dollar bills. "It's payday!" Jean laughed as he tossed a one of the bundles at Nick.

Nick caught the bundle and grinned. ""Nice," he said, "it almost makes up for the crappy day we had."

"Trust me," rasped a deep voice from the shadows, "your night is about to get worse." Both men looked up and saw a large, dark, and pointed ear form emerge from the shadows with glowing white eyes.

If any of the city's usual underworld denizens saw such a figure, most would run, some would piss themselves, and others might have been stupid enough to put up a fight with whatever weapon they had handy. However, Nick and Jean were not residents of this city and, given their background, one could almost excuse their reaction when they saw the man who approached them from the shadows.

"No...fucking...way."


	3. Death and Shadows

Disclaimer: Don't own Incredibles, Pixar and Disney do (and so glad no one from Pixar reads this stuff because they would be screaming for my head on a pike). Don't own Aberrant, White Wolf and Onyx Publishing to. And I sure as hell don't own any DC properties...those are owned by DC and Warner Brothers.

Author's Note: Okay not sure where I got this idea from. I mean, I had an idea but I didn't want to spend too much time developing it, but I wanted to get my point across. After watching the Justice League episode "The Savage Time", I started to get an idea of how to pull this off. For those of you who have read the "Breach" chapters from War of Angels: Defiance and Resurrection, I think you can piece together what's going on. Technically, you could say this is "Arrivals Part 3", but I'm not sure if that title fits. Still not too sure I like how this chapter turned out, but I figured I should at least drop hints how powerful a certain person is. Also, though they never showed up in Justice League Unlimited, I do make a reference to "Challengers of the Unknown". There's also references to the Blackhawks (who were in "The Savage Time"), Sergeant Rock and EZ company, and "Codename: Gravedigger". I almost threw in "Unknown Soldier" but I think that DC character would be too obscure.

Also, Amanda Waller and CADMUS. I know some people are little annoyed about how they're portrayed (one guy has even gone so far as to spamming my review board which is why I'm disabling/moderating the anonymous reviews), but I'm only going by how CADMUS was portrayed in JLU...which means they were pretty damn reckless and ruthless. Keep in mind, this is a group of people who didn't mind nuking an entire island nation to get rid of Superman and Doomsday and didn't take into account that resulting explosion might have caused a global disaster had it actually hit the target. Oh...and don't think I'm going to be giving the Justice League a free pass, because the actions and general attitude of some members rub me the wrong way too and they'll be pointed out in this fic (*cough*John Steward*cough*Shayera*cough*Superman*cough*Batman*cough*).

And yes, I did throw a nod to a certain other television program that will remain unnamed. I just felt the character deserved to have a building named after him.

* * *

" _If you know the enemy and know yourself you need not fear the results of a hundred battles."_

-Sun Tzu, The Art of War

 _"I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and filled him with a terrible resolve."_

 _-_ Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto

* * *

 _ **Henry Blake Veterans Hospital**_

 _ **Coast City, California**_

Diana, not Wonder Woman or Princess Diana of Themyscira as the public knew her, stood at the foot of the bed where an old man rested peacefully. The doctors had told her that it wouldn't be long now, possibly hours, maybe even a day or two, but Colonel Steve Trevor's time in this world was coming to an end. She had known this time was coming and knew there was nothing could be done and, honestly, she knew he wouldn't change it if he could.

Even though she had technically known him for only a couple years, it was almost a lifetime for him thanks to that incident with Vandal Savage. Given her heritage, she tended to see most men as inferior to amazons, but there were a few she considered to be worthy warriors and equals. Kal and Bruce were at the top of the list, but this man...Steve...he was right up there with them in her book. Though they only briefly met in 1943 before she returned to her normal time, he had not forgotten her; that much was obvious from a couple of the sketches she had seen in his sketchbook and the small painting that hung on the wall of his room.

The painting itself, though simplistic in style, struck a chord with her. It was the picture of a young woman with long black hair wearing what appeared to be an elegant Greek robe, standing on a beach and looking out at the setting sun over the water. The caption read, "And all that was and could have been", an interesting title and yet appropriate. Obviously, the woman in the painting was supposed to be her and she smiled sadly at that realization.

She then looked at some of the photos on the walls. Some of them were from his time with military during and after the second world war, some were pictures of friends and family, and she even recognized some members of the Blackhawks in a couple of the photos. She noticed in a few photos there was a young boy with spiky light colored hair and she noticed that the boy (who apparently grew up given the dates on the photos) was in quite a few of them.

 _Must be his family friend or a relative,_ she thought as she read some of the captions written at the base of the photograph.

 _World Series game with Jay, Boston 1948._ The boy appeared to be about nine or ten years old.

 _Blackhawks/EZ Company Reunion 1955, Blackhawk Island The boy is in here as well, he has to be about sixteen or seventeen years old here._

She noticed the boy in several of the photographs and it was obvious that Steve raised him. But studying the facial features, she knew the boy couldn't be related to Steve.

 _Must have been an orphan that he took in...that does sound like Steve._

She noticed a photo album on a bedside table and carefully picked it up. She couldn't hide her smile as she looked at a picture of Steve and an older Jay (she guessed to be about 18) smiling, both of them wearing jeans and faces stained with grease as they gave a thumbs up at the camera while standing in front of a black 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air.

" _Jay's first car...Happy Birthday, kiddo!"_

She looked through the photos, one picture showed Jay, standing on the shores of Blackhawk Island with a few others ranging in age from their early 20s to late 30s. They were standing over the remains of what appeared to be some sort of mechanical monster.

 _Jay and the Challengers at Blackhawk Island, 1965,_ the caption read. Diana then noticed the note scrawled on one corner of the photo. " _Steve, never gonna' doubt you ever again when you talk about the crazy shit from your day..."_

She managed to stifle a chuckle after reading that. Then her mirth died away as she wondered why Steve didn't talk much about this young man. Then she remembered the first time she visited the hospital to see Steve shortly after the Savage incident. She recalled seeing a blond-haired man in a leather jacket and blue jeans in his mid-twenties signing out at the desk when she arrived.

* * *

 **She was still hesitant about this when she entered the main lobby, ignoring the looks she got from everyone or the soft murmurs.**

" **I can't believe it, it's really her."**

" **Why's she here?"**

" **Is the rest of the Justice League here too?"**

 **As she approached the front desk, she saw a young man talking to one of the nurses at the nurse station.**

" **He seems to be in good spirits, today," the young man said as he grabbed his motorcycle helmet off the desk.**

" **He usually is whenever you show up, Jay," the nurse replied. "He's lucky to have a grandson like you."**

" **Yeah, well, not really his grandson...just some kid he took in and raised."**

" **But you're the only one who visits him, so you might as well be fam-" The nurse's voice caught in her throat when she saw Diana.**

" **Excuse me," Diana said politely, "I'm looking for a Colonel Steve Trevor."**

 **The moment she said Steve's name, she saw the young man, shift slightly, his helmet in his left hand as he turned to face her. It was very subtle and Diana knew not many people would have caught it, except a trained warrior liker herself or someone like Bruce. The young man may have looked relaxed, but she recognized someone taking a subtle fighting stance. Before she could say anything the nurse interrupted.**

" **Ah, yes, Wonder Woman, he is currently outside in the hospital garden. I'll take you to him right away."**

 **The young man immediately abandoned his stance, and gave her slight nod. "Your Highness," he said as he started to walk away. What Diana thought was odd was his reaction to her. Almost everyone who saw her or a member of the Justice League always seemed to be a little "star struck" at seeing one of their heroes up close and personal.**

 **But this young man didn't even seem to be fazed by her appearance. In fact, if she didn't know any better, she was being assessed and then dismissed as a threat. There was no fear in his expression, just a cold confidence...which then faded behind a tiny smile that didn't quite reach his eyes.**

" **Right this way, your highness," the nurse said as she led Diana away. "Though I must ask you to keep your visit brief, he does tire easily."**

* * *

That memory dissipated as Diana continued to look through the photo album. She sadly noticed that, as they progressed through the years, there were fewer members of the Blackhawks and EZ company appearing in the photos as Steve got older. Even the group Jay was with, the "Challengers" showed their age when it showed a picture of them standing outside an amusement park in Colorado.

 _Challenger retirement bash, amusement park opening, 1993...one hell of a team._

There was Steve, Jay, and the rest of the Challengers, smiling at the camera...and that's when the realization hit Diana. She went back through the album and re-checked the dates to confirm it.

 _By the gods,_ she thought, as she looked at the most recent picture taken of Jay in the album from a few months ago. This one was just a picture of himself smiling at the camera while, snow mixed in with his spiky blond hair as she read the caption.

 _Mount Everest...actually did it! Wish you were here, old friend._

Diana felt her fingers go slightly numb and she almost dropped the album when everything became clear. _The boy, Jay, he hasn't aged past his twenties...but he should be almost seventy by now._

"Oh," she heard someone say, breaking her train of thought, "you finally found it." She looked up and saw that Steve was awake and smiling at her.

"And hello to you to," she smiled at him as she closed the album. "You never showed me this."

"Believe me, Angel, I really wanted to," Steve said, giving her a sad smile. "But it was never my story to tell, and it still isn't" He then gestured with his right hand at the album. "He'll be here soon, though, and he did say that it was okay to show you that."

"You never really told me about him, and I only saw him once that first time when I came here to see you."

Steve let out a dry chuckle at that. "Yeah, he told me about that. He also mentioned that you were shorter than he imagined."

"Hey," Diana snapped playfully, "I'll have you know I'm not short."

"Must be the way the camera angles are when they catch you on video," came a new voice. Diana turned to look in the direction of the newcomer and saw the young man standing there, wearing jeans, a black t-shirt, and a leather jacket. He nodded once at Diana as he walked in to stand at Steve's bedside. "How you doing, Steve?"

"Oh, pretty much the same," Steve replied. "Still dying." Then he gave Jay a grin and pretended to stage whisper. "But I have to tell you, while I'm not afraid to die, the waiting is killing me."

"Oy," Jay said shaking his head as he rolled his eyes. "Insert lame rim-shot sound effect here."

Both men laughed at that and Diana smiled though she did not quite get the last remark. Jay then looked over at her and gave her an appraising look. "Okay, so you traded the skimpy outfit for jeans and blouse," he said, nodding in approval. "And the ponytail's a nice touch. You almost could pass for human and it's a better disguise than what other members of your crew use."

"Jack," Steve said, giving the young man an admonishing look, "be nice."

"Hey," it's true, Jay said, giving his old a friend mischievous grin. "But I promise not to judge." He then extended his hand to Diana. "We haven't been properly introduced," he said. "Jay Robertson."

"He called you 'Jack'," Diana said as she shook his hand. She also caught that very subtle wince that crossed the young man's face before vanishing behind his grin. "Why go by Jay?"

"When people call you that for several years, you just fall into it. Don't your closest friends call you 'Di'?"

"Only one," Diana replied with a smirk, "though I have to reign myself in from slapping him upside the head...not that I could actually lay hand on him if I tried."

Jay laughed at that, as did Steve whose laughter turned into a coughing fit. "Easy there, old man," Jay said as he helped Steve sit up a little in his bed. "Don't die on me yet."

"Sorry to disappoint, kiddo," Steve said, "but you know everyone's time has to come, even yours."

"So they say," Jay snorted softly. "Gotta' tell ya, Steve, extreme longevity sucks sometimes. Hawk, Stan, Olaf, Hendrickson, Rock, Hazard, and all the others...gone. And the Challengers aren't that far behind."

"You do have the new crew though, don't you?" Steve asked.

"Yeah," Jay sighed. "I suppose, but they really don't need me unless they want to call me up for advice. I could stick around, but I don't like people looking at me like I'm some sort of museum piece."

"I know that feeling," Diana said, trying to offer some friendly assurance. "When people know my true age, I get that same look. But I think I have you beat in the age department." She then held up a hand to prevent both men from asking the same question. "And no, not telling either of you."

All three laughed at that, though Steve started coughing again, this time harder than before.

"This is it, isn't it?" Jay asked, a somber tone of acceptance in his voice.

"Afraid it is, kiddo," Steve said. "Which is why I wanted you both here."

"I can get Chuck," Jay offered.

"No," Steve said, shaking his head. "His health is fragile as it is and I don't want to put this on him. I just want the two people I care about the most here with me. That's all I ask."

"You know me, old man, too stubborn to walk away from something."

"I know that, kiddo, but I also want you to know...after tonight, it's all yours." He then reached out and grabbed Jay's arm. "Promise me, Jack, don't let that bitch and her little pack of jackals get it. Destroy it if you have to."

Again, the young man flinched slightly at Steve's slip of the tongue, but nodded and reached up to hold the old man's hand in place. "You know I will, Steve."

Steve then motioned at Diana with his head. "You can trust her, kid. You may not think highly of the rest of her team, but she can keep your secret if you choose to tell her."

Jay looked over at Diana again, once again giving her an appraising look. "I'll think about it," he finally said. "But I'm not sure if she'll believe me."

"I come from an allegedly mythological society and interact with beings that were long believed to be works of myth and fiction," Diana said. "I doubt what you have to tell me could surprise me."

Both Steve and Jay chuckled at that. Jay's grin returned, as did the mischievous gleam in his eye. "Lady, you have no idea how ironic I find that statement to be."

Diana noticed that Steve had the same amused expression on his face. The old man then looked over at Jay and said, "Just be gentle if and when you do tell her."

The next few hours were mostly silent, though an occasional conversation about past adventures each of them had over the last few decades (though only a few years for Diana) did break out along with some funny moments, some sad moments, and even a few smart-ass comments thrown back and forth. For Diana, it was like being a part of a group of warriors reminiscing about battles past and, in a way, it was.

Finally, at about three in the morning, Steve looked over at Jay and said, "I really hope you find your way home, kid."

And then, for the final time, Colonel Steve Trevor closed his eyes and caught up with those old friends who went before him. Jay bowed his head in silent acceptance, silently wishing his friend a good journey to wherever his soul went. Though he never considered himself a religious person, he hoped Steve got whatever eternal reward he deserved.

That was when he heard it, a soft voice, barely more than a whisper speaking in ancient Greek. Though he studied Greek and other languages over the last few decades, he still couldn't quite make out entirely what Princess Diana was saying; but he got a good part of it.

" _...may his soul find his place in Elysium where all the honored fallen be..."_

Half an hour later, after the attendants took Steve's body and arranged to have it prepared at a funeral home, Diana was walking out with Jay through the front door, the photo album under her arm along with a hand written journal that Steve had given her. When they reached the parking lot, Jack finally turned to face her.

"That was a nice prayer in there, your Highness," he said.

"Please, call me Diana." Diana then glanced over that the ambulance the hospital attendants were loading Steve's body on. "And it was the least I could do for him."

"Maybe so," Jay then grinned at her again. "But I have to tell you, he doesn't strike me as a walking around in the fields of gold kind of person. Unless of course, there's a cabin on a lake with a lot fish in said lake."

Diana returned the young man's grin. Despite herself, she found herself liking Jay Roberson. In many ways he kind of reminded her of a combination of Wally and Bruce. _And that's a disturbing combination,_ she thought. "So, what happens now?" she asked.

Jay sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "I'm going to head over to his house," he replied, "set some things in order, make arrangements for his funeral."

Diana momentarily held up the journal and the photo album she was carrying. "What about these?"

"Ah yes, those," Jay smiled at her again. "Keep 'em, and I'm going to ask you, on your honor as a warrior, to not let anyone else read the journal unless you ask me first. There's some things in there about me and some...more recent events that people don't know about. I'm sure Hawkgirl in particular won't be happy if she ever found out what happened to some of her people during their little 'invasion'."

"What do you mean by that?"

Jay gave her dark look, and for moment, his eyes seemed to glow a white-blue color before returning to normal. "Let's just say that the old proverb that 'people on both sides do terrible things' in a war rings true. Not everyone bent over and submitted to martial law, Diana. Some resisted." Diana could hear the anger in his voice as he spoke. "And being the nice little occupying force they were, those winged bastards decided to make an example and gunned those people down." He looked down at ground for a moment before looking back up at her. "Long story short, twenty winged assholes were plucked, skinned, and roasted at a nice little temperature of 2200 degrees." He took a deep breath and slowly let it out as she just looked at him, her face a mixed expression of horror and understanding. "I lost control, something I hadn't done for decades."

"Don't blame yourself," Diana said. "It was the middle of a battle, and you reacted accordingly."

"Yeah, that's what I tell myself," Jack countered, a haunted look in his eyes. "But I really fear what would happen if I ever truly cut loose. I almost got involved a few times when this planet got attacked. There was that time when the boyscout got brainwashed by that Darkseid whack job, and I almost got directly involved then. In fact, I would have gotten involved, but I was too desperate to get my hands on..." He stopped and shook his head. "No, I'll talk to you about that later after you read that journal," he said. "There's some things going on here, Diana, that you and the League have no clue about."

"What do you mean?"

"When Darkseid first showed up, I recognized those BOOM tube portals, their energy felt familiar, but not quite what I encountered in the past. When the Thanagarian invasion happened, I once again got a familiar feeling from the energy their ships and weaponry were powered by." He shook his head again and sighed. "Look, it's getting late, I need to head over to the house and you got some reading to do. After you read the journal, show up at the house and we'll talk, I'll be there all week. But promise me you won't tell the others about this...not yet."

"Okay." After processing what Jay had told her, and from what she had seen, it was now obvious that he was some sort of meta-human and a very powerful one at that. From what he told her, it sounded like he could possibly go one on one with Kal and that was scary in its own way. What scared her even more was that her instinct (and from reading his body language) told her was that Jay was not lying or exaggerating his abilities. In fact, it sounded like they frightened him. "Can you answer one thing for me now?"

"Depends what it is...go ahead and ask."

"Steve said something about not letting 'that bitch and her little pack of jackals' get something. Who was he talking about and what do they want?"

"Well, the 'what' will have to wait, but I'll show you after your read that journal. As for 'who'," Jay stopped when two SUVs drove into the parking lot and pulled up in front of him. A look of disgust crossed his face and he spat at the ground. "Shit," he muttered, "speak of the devil and she fucking appears...he hasn't even been dead an hour and that witch and her pack of flying monkeys are already here."

"Who?" Diana asked as several men in suits got out of the SUV. All, but one of the six men stood there and glared at Diana and Jay while the seventh man opened the back door of the lead SUV to allow its occupant to step out. "Oh," Diana said as she saw the squat heavy set black middle-aged woman, in a business suit (size XXXXXL she could imagine Wally saying) get out of the vehicle and stare at them.

"Wonder Woman," the new arrival said in greeting, a dangerous tone in her voice. Then the woman's voice took on a more dangerous growl when she addressed Jay. "Robertson." It almost sounded like she was trying to curse when she said the young man's name. "I was wondering if you'd actually show up. Saves me the trouble."

"Director Waller," Jay responded in a mock cheerful tone. "You're out here early...wait, let me guess, you want to be first in line for the all-you-can-eat brunch Buffet at Golden Corral." He then pretended to look at his watch. "You still got a few hours to go, but there is 24 hour Burger King down the street, so feel free to go grazing over there."

It took all of Diana's effort to maintain a neutral expression. While part of her was offended that a man would insult woman's size, another part of her wanted to laugh at Jay's response to a very dangerous individual. She knew who Amanda Waller was, and she knew what the woman had at her disposal. The fact that Jay was staring Waller down spoke a lot about the man's character.

 _Or maybe he's insane._

She also hadn't ruled out that thought either.

Amanda Waller, for her part, merely stood there like a rock and glared back at Jay. "Very funny, Robertson," she said. "I'd be interested to see if you'll still be that amusing in the next forty-eight hours. Colonel Trevor is dead."

"Yeah, we know that," Jay fired back. "We were there when he passed on."

"With his death, CADMUS was able to obtain a court order that allows us to search his home." She then smiled at them, showing a face full of white teeth that made her look like a shark. "With his passing, he's no longer protected by the IOC."

"Damn," Jay said, snapping his fingers and pretending to act annoyed. "You're right. And I'm sure you're going to tear that place apart."

"Of course." Then Waller's grin got even bigger. "And that means he can't protect you." She then looked over at her guards for a moment as if to give them some sort of signal, then returned her attention to Jay and Diana. "So, I advise you to come along quietly...oh, and Wonder Woman, I would suggest that you turn over those items you have in your possession."

Diana was about to say something and, for a moment, considered calling the Watchtower for an emergency beam-out, but stopped when Jay suddenly started laughing. She then looked at Waller and noticed the puzzled expression on the woman's face.

 _She clearly didn't expect this kind of reaction,_ Diana thought.

"Oh my god," Jay said after pausing to take a breath. "I'm sorry about that. For a moment there, I thought you were trying to arrest me."

"Actually, we are politely requesting that you come down and answer some questions." Amanda's smile returned. "But I have enough men here to take you down. And you don't have Colonel Trevor's security clearance to protect you."

Suddenly, Jay straightened up and the mirthful expression on his face suddenly turned into cold resolve as he looked Waller dead in the eye. "You got it backwards, Waller," there was steel in his voice when he spoke, Diana recognized that tone from the times she heard Batman conduct an interrogation that usually resulted in some some severe bodily harm before the perp confessed what he knew. "Now that Colonel Trevor's gone, he can no longer protect you."

"You're outnumbered, Robertson," Waller said in a matter-of-fact tone. "I think six highly trained agents with advanced weaponry that can take down a meta-human will be enough for you." She then looked Diana's direction. "Oh, and Princess Diana, I have snipers trained on you with specialized ammo that can kill you before you even think about calling for an emergency beam-out. Not that it will help you, because we're scrambling your signal."

"I don't think so," Diana said. She wasn't sure if Waller was telling the truth about the snipers, but she wasn't about to give up without a fight. "Do you really want to risk a confrontation with the League."

"Oh, please do," Waller shot back, "I look forward to it. Members of the Justice League attacking a government agency that was conducting legitimate government business...that will give us what we need to justify whatever actions we need to protect our country and the world from the likes of you."

"Shit," Jay said, nodding his head in agreement. "She's right about the two snipers...probably about a mile out from here, right? After all there's only two locations with that kind of elevation and angle to take us out here." This time, Diana was certain she saw Jay's eyes flash white for a moment before he suddenly grinned. "Problem solved."

"What are you playing at?" Waller snarled.

Before Jay could say anything, the sound of two men screaming could be heard before the two bodies fell out of the sky, each one landing on one of the SUVs, caving in roofs of both vehicles and destroying any jamming equipment that might have been in said vehicles. To their credit, the six CADMUS operatives reacted instinctively, diving for cover as they pulled out their weapons and fired. Diana, acting on instinct of her own, dropped the items she was carrying and brought her arms up to deflect whatever was being shot at her.

However, it was Jay and Waller's reaction that surprised Diana. Neither of them moved. Waller had a calculating look on her face while Jay merely tilted his head to one side as the bullets flying towards Jay and Diana stopped in mid-air. Diana watched in disbelief as the bullets floated in the air for a few seconds before dropping to the ground.

Jay shook his head, clicking his tongue in disappointment as he brought up his right hand and shook his index finger at her in disapproval. "Ah, Waller, you never learn, do you?" he asked.

"I learned enough," Waller replied. "You're more than what you let on, aren't you?"

This time it was Jay who was confused. "Wait, hold on...you knew this was going to happen?"

"Just wanted to know what we're truly up against," Waller said. "The two snipers were disposable assets. Now, you're welcome to retaliate but now the local authorities will be on their way in time to see two powerful meta-humans attack a few government agents." As she spoke, two more SUVs showed up in the parking lot and Amanda Waller and her men turned around to walk towards them. She then stopped and looked over her shoulder. "Oh...and Robertson, we may yet actually get to see you fight a Kryptonian."

And with that parting comment, Director Waller and her men got into the two undamaged SUVs and drove off, leaving Diana and Jay standing there in the parking lot with two wrecked SUVs and two dead bodies.


	4. Meeting the Wall

Disclaimer: Aberrant, owned by White Wolf and Onyx Publishing. Justice League Unlimited owned by DC and Warner Brothers.

Author's Note: Okay...David's "arrival" into this world. And yes, Waller is a bitch.

* * *

 _ **CADMUS Headquarters**_

 _ **Sante Fe, New Mexico**_

The first thing he was aware of was voices.

"He's waking up, inform the director."

Then he was aware of the pain in his arm and chest.

"Damn, look at the readings on this guy. He's been out for four days and his body has halfway recovered from the bullet wounds. These will be mere bruises by the end of the week for sure."

David tried to open his eyes, only to be greeted with a sudden flash of images tearing through his brain.

* * *

 **Ricky's headless body on the floor...Ashley lying in broken heap, dying and bleeding, Larry...Larry was dead, a gaping hole where his chest should have been.**

 **And then there was that blond haired nova in a unitard, standing there with a sneer on her face.**

 **Another flash and he was outside, his vision nothing but a field of red as he held the blond nova captive in one of his Zero Point fields before smashing her into the pavement a few times.**

" _ **You came to my home."**_

 **With a gesture of his right hand, he raised a her a few more feet off the ground, channeling more quantum energy into the field, knowing full well the energy surge was tearing through the lady's nervous system like a hot knife through a stick of butter.**

" _ **You hurt people close to me."**_

 **A slashing gesture threw her into a parked car, knocking the vehicle on its side, metal screeching and sparking as it slid several feet from the impact.**

" _ **You KILLED people I considered family!"**_

 **He had the field pick her up out of the wreckage of the car and slammed her into the pavement of the parking lot again, this time putting her at least a foot and a half into the ground and dragging her several yards before lifting her up off the ground again. He had the field bring her up a few feet in front of him forcing her arms and legs to spread out away from her body so she was splayed out in front of him.**

" _ **Your body can apparently take a lot of damage. But you're still experiencing a lot of pain because I'm channeling a shitload of quantum energy into your body via these Zero-Point gauntlets of mine. It's also allowing me to neutralize most of your muscle movements. Give me enough time, I think I might be able to stop your vital organs. But for now, I think I'll start with this."**_

 **Though a small part of him screamed in his mind for him to stop, he ignored it. This bitch had killed and maimed people he had considered family. He felt satisfaction when her mouth opened up in a silent scream as her fingers were forced backwards to the point of being broken.**

" _ **How does it feel, BITCH!?"**_

 **Oh, it felt so good to take his rage out on this bitch. For a moment, he didn't see her. Instead he saw Phillipa Lavielle, then Mirage, then Caestus Pax, and several other enemies he had nothing but cold hatred for. Again, the voice of reason was begging for him to stop, but he shoved it aside as he remembered Larry's dead body lying in the lobby. He knew he should demand answers from this lady, but all he saw was someone who killed members of his family and that demanded only one solution. With another gesture with his gauntlets, the woman's hands were then bent back and he had more pressure applied.**

" _ **I'm going to break every bone in your fucking body. First your, fingers, then your hands, then your-"**_

 _ **BLAM!**_

 _ **BLAM!**_

 _ **BLAM!**_

 **There was pain in his arm, back, and chest as his world suddenly spun out of existence and dissolved into darkness.**

* * *

His eyes snapped open and he was now fully awake. He tried to move and found himself being restrained. He saw a couple people in surgical masks looking down at him.

"Oh shit! He's spiking and his body trying to overcome the sedatives. What the hell is this guy?"

"Doesn't matter, crank up the dosage by sixty percent."

"That could kill an elephant."

"Well, it's not working right now and we've already increased it by forty. Do it!"

"No need," said a new voice. The two doctors, at least they looked like doctors, suddenly stepped aside and the blond bitch that David had fought suddenly stood above him, an evil grin on her face. "You're not supposed to be awake, asshole."

Then David barely saw the blur that was her first before pain and oblivion claimed him again.

* * *

Standing in the small room a few feet away from the prisoner's bed, Amanda Waller studied the young red-haired man who was sleeping peacefully (well, it looked peaceful but that was probably due to the painkiller/sedative cocktail being pumped through his body after going through surgery and then being punched out by Galatea).

 _It's funny how some people don't look like a threat when they're unconscious. This boy looks like some slacker college kid who would probably hanging out at a frat house and getting drunk._

And yet, according to the after-action reports by Lawton and Flagg, this "boy" had advanced technology that pretty much wiped the ground with Galatea. The fact that he apparently created a device that could hurt a clone of Supergirl impressed Amanda and reaffirmed her decision to have this young man extracted.

 _It was an added bonus that we even got those gauntlets he was using against Galatea. If that kind of tech can take down Galatea, then we have something that we can use against Superman and it's not even connected to Kryptonite._

She remembered the look on the faces of Hamilton and the rest of the R&D crew as she presented the gauntlets to them. Luthor was there as well and even he looked impressed after a cursory examination of the gauntlets (and that was all he was going to get, Amanda knew better than to have someone like Luthor get full access to technology like that).

However, she also remembered the conversation with Floyd Lawton when he confronted her in the hallway outside the infirmary a few minutes ago.

"What do you want, Deadshot?"

"Nothing, Waller," the mercenary replied as he gestured over his shoulder at the room that the man called David Pine Flynn was in. "Though I am going to give you an opinion. Sure, you may not think it's worth much, but I'm going to give it to you regardless."

"And what would that be?"

"That kid, David Flynn...we shouldn't have taken him. In fact, I'm going to level with you, I think this was a clusterfuck the moment you people discovered this 'parallel world'."

Amanda rolled her eyes, but she knew deep down that Lawton's observations usually had a valid point most of the time. "Okay, convict," she said, emphasizing the word 'convict' so Lawton would remember his place in the organization. "Let's hear it."

"You said you wanted technology to face off against the Justice League and, using technology you confiscated from various sources, alien and otherwise, you created a 'boom tube' that lead you to an alternate reality where there was no Justice League, but a world that had supers of their own."

"Is there a point to all this, Lawton?"

"I'm getting to it. I'm sure that you researched this world, sent some operatives out to scout the world and get the lay of the land, right?"

"We did. In fact, we made several small recon missions into this world. That's how we got intel on David Flynn and his people."

"That's well and good, Waller, but let me ask you something? Did the possibility ever occur to you that we might be underestimating the kind of people we're dealing with? Case in point, the so called 'detailed' intel you gave us said that while Flynn's company did employ metahumans, they were eggheads and not very likely to pose a threat. Well, they would have wiped us out if we didn't have Galatea backing us up."

"We weren't that naïve," Amanda snapped, not liking where Lawton was headed. "We knew from some of the intel that they could put up a fight, that's why I had Galatea assigned to you."

"And yet, though she did take out most of the people with her 'shock and awe' and 'let's kill and maim for shits and grin' tactics, Flynn didn't hesitate to take her on and would have fucking killed her if I hadn't intervened and shot him."

"He got careless and you took him out."

Lawton shook his head. "No, Waller," he said. "The kid was enraged. Yeah, that gave me an opening to take him out, but the problem is that he is now here, in our world, in our facility, alive. And I'm certain that he still has that rage inside."

"He's just one man, convict," Amanda said evenly. She really didn't like what Lawton was saying. "And with the implants we put at the base of his skull, he's hardly in any position to act out on whatever rage issues he may have with us."

The mercenary smirked at her. "I saw the look on his face, Waller, especially his eyes. You may think we have him under control, but we don't. He's a wounded animal in a cage and I'm telling you, he's one of those wounded animals that will bite your fucking hand off when he gets the chance."

"Then we'll just have to make sure he doesn't get that chance, won't we?"

"I'm telling you, Amanda," this time, Lawton spoke softly, "kill him. He's too dangerous."

For a moment, Amanda said nothing. Then she smiled at the man. "Why Floyd," she chuckled, "if didn't know any better, I'd almost say you were scared of the boy."

Lawton shook his head again. "If that's the way you want to play it, Director, then it's all on you." He turned around and started to walk away, but then stopped and glanced back over his shoulder. "I just hope that I get to be around to say 'I told you so'. It might even be worth you setting off the bomb in my neck."

Now, a few minutes after that conversation, Amanda was studying this so called "caged animal" and wondering if Lawton had a point. She glanced at the monitor above the bed and the hint of a smile pulled at the corner of her mouth as she read the vital signs. "I know you're awake, Mr. Flynn, so you can spare me the act."

The young man's eyes immediately opened and, for a moment, she saw confusion and anger as he looked at her before they suddenly became cold and dead...like a predator looking at its prey. "So, you're the one who ordered the attack on me." Not a question, a statement based on an observation.

"Yes," Amanda replied. "I'm Director Amanda Waller of an organization called CADMUS, Mr. Flynn. And don't bother trying to place the name, because you are not on your world."

For an instant, something flickered across Flynn's face, but Amanda couldn't place the expression. Perhaps is was confusion.

"Not on my world?" Flynn repeated. He then chuckled as he looked at Amanda. "Let me guess, you're actually some sort of Roswell alien dressed up in an overweight shell."

"Ah, this must be the smart-ass facade you present to your enemies in Project Utopia, right?" Amanda asked as she reached into her coat pocket and pulled out a small black box with a single button on it. "Well, welcome to the big leagues, Mr. Flynn." She pushed the button and smiled as the electrical charge surged through the base of his skull and made him thrash around uncontrollably for a couple seconds. "That was the lowest setting, Mr. Flynn. The others are a little more intense and the highest setting just detonates the nano-explosive which rips your head off at the shoulders."

She studied Flynn's expression and could see the hatred in his eyes, but she was used to that. All convicts inducted into CADMUS had that same look on their face. The hatred gave way to understanding, but she noticed the one expression she saw on most CADMUS operatives' faces was not present on Flynns.

 _There is no fear,_ she thought. _His eyes...you can tell that he's looking at his options, planning._

After a couple more seconds of silence, Flynn sighed and finally spoke. "What do you want, Director Waller?"

"Your help, Mr. Flynn."

Flynn glared at her for a moment. "You have a funny way of asking for it. You could have scheduled an appointment instead of having your pet nova kill my people."

"It was necessary. We needed you and we wouldn't take no for an answer."

Again, Flynn fell silent and Amanda could see that he was seriously contemplating something before he spoke again. "And what is is you want me to do, exactly?"

"We're in a war, Mr. Flynn, against super-powered beings who are basically modern day gods with an orbital satellite station with a planet-killing weapon pointed down at us. They claim to be heroes, but I don't trust the Justice League, not after the last few years."

"The Justice League?" The tone in Flynn's voice caught Amanda by surprise. For a moment, there was no anger. In fact, it almost seemed like a combination of recognition or disbelief, but she couldn't be sure.

"Yes," Amanda replied. "What I want you to do, Mr. Flynn, is make weapons for us that can neutralize the League."

"I'll save you the trouble, Director Waller," David said. "Might as well use the highest setting and kill me now."

For a moment, Amanda said nothing. Then she took a slow breath before she said, "I was expecting an answer like that."

"Maybe so, but it's not going to change it."

"Oh, I think you will."

Flynn arched an eyebrow at her. "Really?"

"Yes, I do."

"Care to explain that to me?"

"It's very simple, I'll give you forty-eight hours to think about it. If you're smart, you'll agree to help us."

"And if I don't."

Amanda gave him a cruel smile "Well then," she said, "we'll just have to arrange another little trip for Galatea. She's that young woman you tried to kill in your world. She's a little pissed off at that."

"That's okay, I still plan on finishing the job."

"Kind of hard for you to that while you're here," Amanda said. "But as I was saying; you don't cooperate, I'll send her back to your world, to your so called home, and I will order her to level the entire town and kill everyone there."

And once again, silence dominated the room as Amanda and Flynn stared at each other, each studying the expression of the other. After a minute, Amanda saw the fear she was looking for, but she also saw the hatred as he spoke.

"You bitch," he growled. "You would kill a city of a hundred and seventy thousand people?"

Amanda smiled at him again. "Not my world, not my problem," she said. "The world that matters, is mine and the people on it. I will do whatever it takes to protect them." She then turned and started to walk out of the room. "But I'll still give you forty-eight hours to think about it."

She was about to close the door behind her when she heard Flynn say, "Director Waller."

She stopped and turned around. "Yes, Mr. Flynn?"

"When this is over, I'm going to fucking crucify you."

Amanda snickered as she turned back around and walked out the door. "Forty-eight hours, Mr. Flynn. Try not to spend it being delusional."

* * *

David waited until the door closed behind the woman and leaned his head back into his pillow. It took all his effort to control his emotions. Anger, fear, hatred, and...of course...disbelief.

 _Were I a baseline human, I'd either be freaking out or laughing hysterically_

He closed his eyes for a moment and concentrated, reaching out with his cyberkinetic link...he could feel the firewalls of the network to this facility. Though they felt familiar, they also felt different and he knew it would take time for him to break their coding to bypass them. He could also feel the connection from the network to the unknown cyber-organism at the base of his skull.

 _And that would be that little nanite bomb implant you have in my head._

He allowed himself a tiny smile as he mentally scanned the coding coming from the organism.

 _It will take me awhile, but I'm sure I can break it eventually. But that's not the bigger problem._

David prided himself on being a firm believer in logic and reality, despite some of the wondrous things he had seen in his world. But this...this was different.

 _This world, this place...this must be the world Mitchell Carter had come from. These were the people he was warning me about. But it's not possible...it can't be possible._

Though David sometimes questioned his own grasp on sanity, he liked to think he was in possession of most of it. However, now, as he asked himself this one question, he was starting to wonder if he actually lost it.

 _How does one escape from a world that is a work of fiction and is not supposed to be real?_


	5. So a couple Supers walk into Starbucks

Disclaimer: Aberrant, owned by White Wolf and Onyx Publishing. JLU, owned by DC and Warner Brothers. "Cities in Dust" originally written and performed by Siouxsie and the Banshees

Author's Notes: Okay, just to clarify; when points of view change, so do how certain people are called. For example, when I write from Supergirl's POV, I refer to her as Kara and to Flash as Wally, though, when in the open public, they do use their codenames. When writing Zoe's point of view, she refers to them as Flash and Supergirl (even though she does sort of know who they are...but her info is not entirely accurate).

Normally, I don't do this, but I would suggest you listen to Junkie XL's version of "Cities in Dust" while reading this. Why? Because I think it would make a nice theme song for Zoe.

I am taking one thing from the DC comics world and incorporating it into my take on the JLU 'verse. Barbara Gordon, aka Batgirl...in this fic she is now in a wheelchair and has been since after the Justice League episode titled "Wildcards". It's interesting to note that after that particular episode, a good chunk of Bat related characters (except for Batman himself) didn't show up in the Justice League series after that. I'm not sure what the story is on that, but there were rumors that Warner Brothers had put a "ban" on using Batman characters because they didn't want to come into conflict with the Nolan movies that were beginning production around that time.

Whatever the real reason was, we'll never know, but I'm going to say that, by the time JLU rolls around, Barbara is in a wheelchair and is going by "Oracle" now. Another comic import (though not in this chapter) will be posthumous mentions of Tommy Monaghan aka "Hitman"...he was mentioned briefly in one JLU episode and, sadly (and this was confirmed by the late Dwayne McDuffy) he was already dead by the time JLU happened. Well, he's still dead in this story too...but...his legacy lives on.

* * *

 _Water was running, children were running_  
 _You were running out of time_  
 _Under the mountain, a golden fountain_  
 _Were you praying at the Lares' shrine?_  
 _But oh, your city lies in dust, my friend_  
 _But oh, your city lies in dust, my friend_

 _We found you hiding, we found you lying_  
 _Choking on the dirt and sand_  
 _Your former glories and all the stories_  
 _Dragged and washed with eager hands_  
 _But oh, your city lies in dust, my friend_  
 _But oh, your city lies in dust, my friend_  
 _Your city lies in dust_

-"Cities In Dust", Siouxsie and the Banshees

* * *

 _ **The Watchtower**_

Kara Kent aka Kara In-Ze aka Supergirl wasn't sure what to expect when J'onn contacted her. Though she enjoyed being part of the League and working with all the other heroes, she was actually looking forward to some "downtime" at the Kent farm. She told everyone that she just needed to relax a little given some of the recent events involving the League, and that was partially true. After the massive security breach involving the theft of the Annihilator coupled with the CADMUS attempt to nuke an island with a Kryptonite missile because Doomsday and Superman were duking it out while a volcano was erupting, Kara decided maybe she needed some time off to wind down.

Okay, that wasn't entirely true; those incidents, while troubling, weren't the ones that bothered her. It was the fact that CADMUS, with the help of Doctor Emil Hamilton at STAR labs had successfully cloned her and she fought that clone to a draw before the facility they were in exploded and she barely had time to get Ollie and The Question out of there. There was a clone of her out there and she knew it was a matter of time before Galatea showed up. J'onn understood and had put her on the inactive roster for a few weeks.

So she was mildly surprised when he called her about "unusual activity" happening in Metropolis. When she pressed him for more details, his response was that the criminals committing the crime ended up being the ones robbed. Needless to say, that got her interested enough to have him beam her up to the Watchtower.

"Okay, J'onn," she said as she stepped off the teleport pad in the Watchtower command center, "what's going on?"

J'onn nodded at her in greeting and then tapped a couple keys on a nearby keyboard that brought up a holographic display showing an aerial view of Metropolis. "Four days ago, we detected some odd activity centered in Centennial Park. Around that same time, a similar occurrence was detected in Gotham City's waterfront district as well." As he spoke, a display of Gotham City's waterfront appeared next to Metropolis and data flashed across both displays, giving off energy readings. "What's disturbing is that these readings are indicating dissipating waves of quantum energy, the kind that we've only experienced when-"

"When someone activates a Boom Tube," Kara finished for him. Now she understood his concern. "Okay, so what are we looking at? Another Apokolips invasion? And how come Kal's not in on this."

"Superman and Batman are both looking into these incidents. Batman has detained the two men who came through the anomaly and they were taken to Arkham."

"What happened?"

"Apparently, these two men, according to Batman, were responsible for the deaths of at least seventy men who belonged to the Red Cobra Triad and what was left of the Zucco Crime family."

"Two guys, huh?" Kara said. "Sounds like a couple members of Darkseid's crew."

J'onn gave her a curious look. "Agreed, but there is one slight problem."

"Oh?"

"Superman went over the scene and discovered a piece of equipment that looked like a Mother Box."

"Well, of course, they would need that to create a Boom Tube."

"Except," J'onn said, arching a non-existent eyebrow at her, "it wasn't a Mother Box." He paused for a moment to let that sink in before he continued. "It was a device that was made here...on Earth."

"No way," Kara exclaimed. "But that's not possible. Unless...you don't think CADMUS had anything to do with this, do you?"

"According to Batman, there were a large number of government personnel on the waterfront and they wasted no time going through the bodies. They took one body and immediately left the scene. They also had a team of divers in the water, searching the area off the docks."

"They were looking for something," Kara said, realizing where J'onn was going. "They wanted that device."

"Yes," J'onn replied. "Superman currently has the device at his fortress and is examining it there with Aztek, Steel, and Atom."

"Okay, but why do it there?" Kara asked. "Surely we can do that kind of research here on the Watchtower, right?"

"Yes." J'onn paused a moment and Kara caught the hesitation in his voice. Then, unexpectedly, he telepathically spoke to her. " _ **But in light of the security breach we recently encountered, we're not taking chances."**_

" _ **Wait, what are you talking about?"**_ Kara mentally asked. " _ **Is this connected to that incident involving the theft of the Annihilator armor?"**_

" _ **Yes. Green Lantern, Mr. Terrific, and I have been redoing all the security protocols and have transferred various operational personnel as we've been investigating them for any connections to CADMUS."**_

" _ **Wait, hold on. Are you telling me you don't trust the support staff who run this station?"**_

" _ **It's not so much a matter of trust, Kara, it's more about trying to determine who has been compromised."**_

Kara didn't like where this conversation was going. She heard rumors and even talked to Question about it (and he seemed even more paranoid than normal), but she didn't like the implication that the people she trusted to run, operate, and maintain the Watchtower's systems might be spies for CADMUS.

"Okay," she said out loud, deciding to change the subject, "so you want me to check out Metropolis?"

"Yes," J'onn replied. "There was a similar anomaly but there was nothing as severe as the incident in Gotham." There was almost an amused tone in the Martian's voice that made Kara turn away from the holographic display to look at him. "There were no fatalities, but...some bizarre incidents have happened since that anomaly."

"Such as?" Kara asked. If she didn't know any better, it was almost as if J'onn was trying not to smile.

"A young man with a criminal record was found at the scene, stripped down to his underwear and wrapped up in duct tape."

"What?" Kara laughed. "Hold on, did you say he was wrapped up in duct tape."

"Yes. According to the police officers who arrived at the scene, the young man swore he was attacked by a pink-haired meta-human who mugged him using super-speed and wrapped him up in duct-tape." This time, J'onn didn't hide the tiny smile that pulled at the corner of his mouth. "Given his record, the young man known as Richard "Ace" Corwin is suspect in multiple robberies."

"Let me guess, he was not the only 'duct tape victim', was he?"

"No. The next day, an armored car heist was thwarted by what witnesses described as a 'pink blur' that knocked the men off their feet before wrapping all four of them in duct tape."

"Seriously?"

"Yes. Later that day, two more robberies and a couple muggings were thwarted by this 'pink blur'. And each time, the perpetrators were wrapped up in duct tape."

By now, Kara was laughing hysterically After about a minute, she managed to regain her composure. "Sorry about that," she said. "I just find this amusing."

"Oh, I haven't delivered the proverbial punchline to this yet."

"Really? And what might that be."

"The people committing these crimes had their wallets emptied of all cash and credit cards. The money and valuables they were attempting to take were left untouched by whoever this person is."

"Whoa, hold up," Kara giggled. "Are you saying whoever did this is robbing the criminals?" She then broke out in laughter again. "Oh god...thank you, J'onn, this really made my day."

"While I must confess I find this amusing as well, it does not change fact that we have a super-speedster down there in Metropolis who is robbing criminals. In the last four days, this individual has been doing this repeatedly. Yesterday, a local surveillance camera managed to catch her." J'onn tapped a couple more keys and the holographc display showed a young woman with pink hair wearing blue jeans, pink high-top shoes, a black t-shirt, a leather jacket, and a pair of goggles. The woman was drinking a mocha and finished off the drink before tossing it in a garbage can and suddenly disappearing in a blur.

"Wait," Kara said. "Play the clip backwards slowly." J'onn tapped a couple keys and the footage started to play backwards at half speed. "There!" Kara declared. "Pause it."

"What do you see, Kara?"

Kara smiled as she recognized the logo on the coffee cup the woman was drinking out of. "Beanery Extreme," she read. "Our girl has good taste, it's one of the best coffee houses in Metropolis. It's right off of 8th Avenue."

"Ah, the so called 'Avenue of Tomorrow'."

"Yep...not too far from LexCorp and it runs along Centennial Park."

J'onn tapped a couple more commands to bring up some information. "It seems most of the crimes that were thwarted were near or around that general area. Curious."

"How so?"

"There are a couple 'break-ins' reported as well, a hardware store and an office supply store. No money was taken; in fact, a couple hundred dollars in cash were left on the counter."

"So what was taken?"

J'onn smiled again. "Duct tape, about a couple hundred rolls."

Kara shook her head and managed to stifle her laughter this time. "Okay, this is funny, but we should bring this girl in. Technically, she is a criminal herself, even though she is robbing these jerks."

"Agreed, but perhaps we should bring her here for questioning first. There is something about her that seems off."

"How so?"

"Call it a hunch, but I suspect that this young woman may not be from this world." He tapped a couple more keys then looked back at Kara. "I've also contacted Flash, he will meet you down at Centennial Park."

"Are you insane?" Kara asked in mock horror. "You want me to bring Wally in close proximity to Extreme Beanery? Do you realize how he gets when he has coffee?"

"Yes, but this young woman appears to be a speedster like Flash. You may be fast, Kara, but you aren't that fast. You might need him."

Kara nodded as she stepped on the teleport pad. "Good point," she said, "but you get to deal with him if he overloads on the caffeine."

J'onn didn't say anything in reply. Instead he tapped a couple more commands and Kara disappeared in a flash of white light.

* * *

 **Centennial Park**

"About time you got here." Kara turned to see Flash leaning up against a tree, drinking a mocha-smoothie.

"Very funny, Wally," Kara said, rolling her eyes. "So, J'onn filled you in?"

"Yeah, pink-haired speedster armed with duct-tape who robs bad guys," Wally quipped, giving her a light playful punch in the shoulder. "Should be easy enough."

"Thanks a lot, Wally, you just jinxed us."

"Did not," Wally chuckled for a moment. "But seriously, Kara, it is easy. Before you got here, I did a run through town. J'onn mentioned that you wanted to check Extreme Beanery, so I did that before I met you."

"I can see that, given the fact you're guzzling down one of their caramel crème smoothies."

"Well, she's not there, but I suspect she's at the Starbucks near the Avalon Hotel."

"What makes you say that?"

Wally grinned as he pulled out his smart-phone and started tapping away at it. "Because this is being posted on the Starbucks Facebook page as we speak." He held up the phone so Kara could see the image on the screen that showed a smiling pink-haired woman standing next to a table that had a wall of empty Starbucks cups on it. "Look at the time stamp on the photo."

Kara looked at the image and her eyes widened as she read the caption. "That was two minutes ago."

They both took off towards the Starbucks located across the street from the Avalon hotel. Wally, as usual, arrived first with Kara showing up about five seconds behind him. What greeted them was something they weren't prepared for.

"CHUG! CHUG! CHUG! CHUG! CHUG!"

"What...the...hell?" Kara asked as she saw the small crowd in the Starbucks lobby chanting away.

"Okay," Wally said as he and Kara walked into the cafe, "this is weird."

"Mocha number three hundred and forty three," a female voice shouted getting a bunch of cheers from the crowd. Kara and Wally saw the young pink haired woman high-five a few of the patrons and then adding the now empty cup to the small building she was creating out of them.

Wally tapped one of the patrons on the shoulder. "What's going on?" he asked.

The man, a rugged looking construction worker with bushy hair and a five o'clock shadow turned to look at him. "Oh, hey, Flash. What brings you to Metropolis?"

"Her," Wally replied, pointing at the young woman who grabbed another mocha off another table that had at least fifteen more drinks on it.

"Oh...she a relative of yours?"

"Not exactly," Wally replied.

"How long has she been here?" Kara asked.

"Oh, from what I've heard, about four hours," the man replied.

"Four hours?" Disbelief filled Kara's voice.

"Yep."

Kara looked over at Wally. "Damn, she's worse than you!"

* * *

Zoe sat down in her chair behind the table she was building her little castle of empty coffee cups on. She was very happy that, despite being in an alternate reality where fictional heroes were real, Starbucks was still around.

 _Damn,_ she thought as she started to drink her next peppermint mocha, _they truly are EVERYWHERE._

She noticed the audience she had gathered over the last couple hours had started to quiet down, but she was too busy enjoying her mocha that she didn't notice her two visitors until she finished her mocha and found herself looking at some woman's chest wearing a familiar looking costume that had a certain stylized "S" on it. She placed the now empty mocha cup on the table and then looked up at the blond haired woman looking down at her. "Okay," she said, pointing at Supergirl's breasts, "those can't be real."

Supergirl's response, needless to say, was humorous. She blinked a couple times as if she didn't comprehend what Zoe had just said. Then an agitated expression crossed her face. "Excuse me?"

"I'm sorry," Zoe said with a giggle, "but there is no way the real Supergirl would have breasts that big unless she was drawn by a lonely comic book artist." Then a thoughtful expression crossed her face. "Which would actually explain why most female comic characters are drawn like tha-"

"I AM the real Supergirl!"

Before Zoe could fire back a comment, she was interrupted by the man in the red bodysuit. "Actually, she really is Supergirl. And I'm the Flash."

"I hope so," Zoe snickered. "Because I was almost afraid you were Captain Body Condom."

Supergirl looked like she was about to fire back with a snide comment, but stopped and looked over at Flash for moment. Then her annoyance vanished and her cheeks reddened , swelling slightly before she brought up a hand to cover her mouth. Unfortunately, that didn't stop her from suddenly laughing. "Oh god," she managed to gasp. "I'm sorry, that...I wasn't prepared for that."

"Hey," Flash said defensively. "This is not a body condom...it's a suit that prevents friction when I run through..."

"Please," Supergirl laughed again, studying herself as she leaned against another table. "Flash...just stop right there."

Flash sighed as he realized what he just said. "Fine," he admitted, "I guess it is...technically." Then he gave Zoe a curious look. "But how are you able to run so fast without wearing some specialized material? How come your clothes don't tear away from the friction?"

"Oh, that's easy," Zoe replied. "I'm able to attune my clothing with my body when I kick on the mega-speed."

"Seriously, you can do that?"

"Well, yeah, can't you?"

"Not really, normal clothing tends to wear down when I move too fast."

"Ah, makes sense then." Zoe nodded in understanding and took another sip of her mocha. "So," she said, wiping a drop of whip cream off her lips, "what brings you two down here?"

Supergirl shot Zoe a mildly annoyed look that almost said, "Isn't that kind of obvious?"

Zoe raised set her mocha down on the table and raised her hands slightly as if to surrender. "Okay, okay, I get it...I'm going to assume this has something to do with my...um...little shopping spree here in Metropolis."

Flash grinned sheepishly as he scratched his head. "Um, yeah...about that," he said. "We're not gonna' fight now, are we?"

Zoe paused for a moment, leaning back in her chair, the thoughtful look on her face returning. "Well, give me a couple seconds to think about it," she said. She smiled as she saw the looks of concern appear on the faces of the two heroes. "Oh, c'mon...seriously? That kind of shit only happens in comic books and cartoons, not real life." Then she chuckled, knowing the irony of her statement would be lost on them. "We're not gonna' fight...sorry to disappoint you. I could run away though."

"Please don't," Supergirl said. "We can find you."

Zoe smiled at young woman. "From your little Watchtower in the sky?" she asked. "I bet you're able to link up with various networks to track someone like me. Kind of Big Brother-ish, don't you think?"

"Yeah," Flash quipped. "Some would argue that we might win the George Orwell award."

Zoe shook her head. "Nope, sorry, I think my world has you beat. But you'd be a close runner-up."

Supergirl caught Zoe's slip of the tongue. "Wait...your world?"

"Ah, caught that, did you?" Zoe raised an eyebrow, but stayed in her chair, enjoying the startled expression on Supergirl's face. "Let's just say I'm not from around here?"

Supergirl's eyes narrowed in suspicion and Zoe could have sworn she saw a brief flicker of red. "So you are from Apokalips?"

"You mean that world that brainwashed Superman had him lead an invasion where he beat you to a pulp before he snapped out of it?"

"How would you know about that?"

Zoe shrugged, ignoring the intimidating glare Supergirl was giving her. "There's this wonderful thing called the Internet...you might have heard of it? A little bit of hacking here and there and I was able to dig out some information. By the way, most of the corporations of your world have some very crappy firewalls. Wayne Industries and LexCorp are the only ones that give me trouble, but that's to be expected given the kind of 'extra-curricular' activity they engage in."

Judging by the shared look of horror on the faces of Flash and Supergirl, Zoe could see that they knew what she was talking about.

"You hacked Wayne Industries and LexCorp?"

"Kind of on Wayne, but that was more of a thirty second sneak and peek. Besides I didn't want to piss off the hacker he has on retainer. She wasted no time in upgrading his firewalls and she would have toasted my laptop if I tried it again. If I'm ever in Gotham, I'll have to pay Barbara Gordon a visit and compare notes over coffee." Zoe's smile got even bigger. "As for LexCorp...well, he really should pay more attention where some of his 'presidential campaign funding' goes. Then again, he probably figures the three-hundred thousand went to bribe some official or fund some charity he really doesn't give a damn about."

Flash gave her an appraising look. "Damn, you have been busy," he muttered.

"Hey, I've been displaced on a world not my own with no resources on hand, I kind of had to make do with what I found." Zoe reached down and pulled up the backpack sitting next to her chair. She then handed Supergirl the backpack as she got up out of the chair. "Can you hold on to that for a few seconds?"

"Um...sure," Kara said as she took the bag from the young woman. She was half-expecting the girl to run or put up a fight, but she just seemed to be taking her time.

The girl then waved at one of the baristas behind the at the counter. "Hey, Ian, I'm going to call it a day. You guys can keep whatever is left of the four grand I left you."

The young man waved back at her, as did the other six workers behind the counter. ""No problem, Zoe," he said. "Between your binge drinking and the extra traffic you brought in, I think we made our sales for the week."

The girl chuckled and then, before Kara or even Wally could react, vanished in a blur. Kara felt a slight breeze and watched the coffee cup castle vanish. A couple seconds later, the table was clean and Zoe was standing in front of Kara again, taking the backpack from her.

"Thanks," the pink haired girl said.

"No problem." Kara didn't know what else to say or even what to do.

Zoe then gestured at the other table that still had a dozen mochas on it. "Okay," she said, addressing the patrons in the cafe, "twelve untouched mochas need to be taken care of. Let the wolves have at it...enjoy!"

"Actually, there's only eleven there," Wally said before taking a sip from one of the mochas he had swiped before the rest of the patrons swooped in to take the free drinks. He merely shrugged as Kara glared at him. "Hey, it's free."

"Supergirl to Watchtower," Kara grumbled, rolling her eyes as she tapped her earpiece. "Three to beam up."

Zoe arched an eye-brow. "Three to beam up?" she repeated. "That's not very origin-"

Her sentence was cut off as the three of them vanished in a flash of blue light.

* * *

Outside the cafe, a tall powerfully built man wearing a three piece suit and an overcoat stood on the sidewalk, frowning as he watched the two Justice League members depart with the potential 'extra-dimensional hostile'. He sighed and pulled out his cellphone, knowing the Director would not be happy about this.

"Yes," said the voice on the other end of the phone.

"Flagg here, Director Waller, you were right. The signal coming from one of team Gamma's devices was here in Metropolis."

"Any sign of Team Gamma?"

"No, it is as we feared," Flagg replied. "It would appear that it is in the possession of a young woman. She appears to be a super-speedster like the Flash. In fact, the Flash was here with Supergirl when they picked her up."

"Did they recognize you?"

"No ma'am, I doubt they even saw me."

"The girl, what did she look like?"

"Late teens, possibly early twenties, she kind of stands out though with that neon pink hair of hers." It was very faint, but Flagg was certain that he heard a quick intake of breath on the other end of the line. "Director?" he asked.

There was a pause, then woman responded. "There's an image coming to your phone, stand by."

Flagg held up the phone so he could see the image on the screen. He recognized it as one of the photos taken by one of the recon teams when they first scouted out that "alternate Earth". It was a photo taken from one of that world's media sites that showed David Pine Flynn and the pink haired girl standing together in front of an office building, flanked by a woman with long dark hair and that large rock-like creature Galatea had killed.

 _This is not good,_ he thought. _If one of Flynn's people is here and they find out about him, they may try to rescue him._

He put the phone back up to his ear. "Confirmed, Director Waller. That is the same woman."

There was another long pause, and then he heard the one thing he didn't expect Waller to say. "Perfect."

"I beg your pardon, Director," he said. "She could pose a potential risk and the Justice League has her."

"That's true, Rick." Flagg could almost hear the smirk in the woman's voice. "But if she's here, we may have the leverage we need to control the asset. Return to base."

"Understood, Flagg out." Flagg cut the connection and, for a brief moment, he felt a sense of dread. As he started to walk away and headed towards his car parked down the street, he thought about the mission and all four teams involved in the extraction operation.

Out of the four teams, only Delta team, his team, made it back. Nothing was heard from Beta team and only the charred remains of one member recovered in Gotham were the only sign of team Alpha.

 _And the only sign of team Gamma is that portal control unit in that unknown metahuman's possession...and that young lady is now in the custody of the Justice League._

While he was certain that there was nothing that could trace directly back to CADMUS, he knew the League would have their suspicions. He also knew that, while the League might throw an accusation at them, Waller would deny or, more likely, just ignore it. And though he supported Waller's plan, Flagg was concerned about Waller's overall attitude.

 _Her 'not our world, not our problem' is understandable and I'm all for doing whatever it takes to protect our world when the League does go rogue. But I'm starting to wonder if we are messing with forces we don't understand._

He went back over the assault on David Flynn's company on that world. Flynn's people, though taken by surprised, would have wiped the floor with his crew if Galatea hadn't been with them. However, when Galatea killed two of their number and injured several others, he noticed they fought harder.

 _And then Flynn showed up and I have no doubt he would have killed Galatea if Lawton hadn't shot him in the back. The kid was angry, focused on 'Tea. He would have slaughtered us if we hadn't paid attention. If Flynn's people over there somehow figure out how to get here, we may have something more than a rogue Justice League to worry about._

He then remembered part of the conversation overheard between Lawton and the Director.

" _ **I saw the look on his face, Waller, especially his eyes. You may think we have him under control, but we don't. He's a wounded animal in a cage and I'm telling you, he's one of those wounded animals that will bite your fucking hand off when he gets the chance."**_

" _ **Then we'll just have to make sure he doesn't get that chance, won't we?"**_

" _ **I'm telling you, Amanda, kill him. He's too dangerous."**_

" _ **Why Floyd, if didn't know any better, I'd almost say you were scared of the boy."**_

" _ **If that's the way you want to play it, Director, then it's all on you. I just hope that I get to be around to say 'I told you so'. It might even be worth you setting off the bomb in my neck."**_

Though he supported Director Waller, Flagg had to admit that Lawton had a point. The look he got from the young man when they brought him through the portal still played back through Flagg's mind. Flynn was losing consciousness from wounds and blood loss, but the cold determined look the kid gave him...it actually frightened him.

"I...will see you...burn," the young young man said before he lost consciousness and the med-techs rushed him away.

Flagg shook his head and pushed that memory aside as he reached his car. He opened the door to get in, but stopped himself as he came to a decision about the whole situation.

 _Waller may be right, but so was Lawton. We do have a rabid and wounded animal in a cage. It wouldn't hurt to have a contingency plan._

He pulled out his phone again and dialed another number.

"Yeah," said a tired voice. "Got another suicide mission for me, flag-boy?"

"Shut it, convict," Flagg snapped. "I overheard your conversation with the Director earlier."

"And what," Lawton snapped, "you're going to be a good little boy and punish me for speaking my mind?"

"No."

For at least four seconds, there was dead silence. When Lawton spoke again, there was a surprised tone in his normally calm and cold demeanor. "Excuse me?"

"For once, Lawton, I agree with you."

"Okay, that's nice, but there's not much we can do about the situation, is there?"

"No," Flagg admitted, "and we have our orders. But nothing was said about preparing for a situation when the rabid animal gets out."

Now Lawton was fully interested. "When? Not if?"

"There is no 'if', Lawton," Flagg said, mentally praying that he was wrong, but he had the dreadful feeling that was right. "And we better be ready, or the whole world is going to suffer for it."


	6. And which way does this rabbit hole go?

Disclaimer: Aberrant, owned by White Wolf Publishing. Justice League Unlimited, owned by DC/Warner Brothers. The Incredibles, owned by Pixar/Disney (and I'm really glad no one at Pixar reads this crap, they would probably kill me for what I have done with their world). Not sure who owns the Matrix, but I only used the quote from the movie.

Author's Note: Oh, and before anyone asks. Yes, I might have been influenced a little by the ending to Portal 2.

* * *

" _This is your last chance. After this, there is no turning back. You take the blue pill - the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill - you stay in Wonderland and I show you how deep the rabbit-hole goes."_

Morpheus, "The Matrix" (1999)

* * *

 _ **The Watchtower**_

 _ **Somewhere in Orbit**_

Floating in orbit around planet Earth, the Watchtower appeared as a beacon of serenity, watching quietly over the planet. On board the orbital facility, the world's greatest heroes and the technical support staff took the job of the world's safety seriously. In fact, almost everyone on the Watchtower was more focused on their job of protecting Earth than they were of the fact they were in space. Being in orbit, to some, was just another day at work. To others, it was almost boring. In the three years it had been existence, the Watchtower had become a place of normalcy and the beings dwelling on it payed little heed where they were.

"OHMYGOD! OHMYGOD! WE'RE IN SPACE!"

Well...almost everyone.

"Spaaaaaaaaaaace!" An almost childlike squeal of delight broke the normally serene and professional atmosphere that made up the Watchtower Command and Control Center.

J'onn J'onzz, also known to the people of Earth as The Martian Manhunter, still found human emotions confusing despite having been among them for a few years. He had believed, however, that he was prepared for most situations and was able to deal with anything.

"SPAAAAAAAAAAACE!"

Until now.

"Hey, watch it," one of several Watchtower personnel said as a pink blur sped by them.

J'onn inwardly sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. He was feeling...what was that word...agitation. And, he wasn't sure, but a dull throbbing pain in his forehead felt like...a migraine? Is that what those felt like?

The pink blur stopped in front of a large observation window, manifesting in the form of a young woman with short pink hair wearing goggles, a leather jacket, and blue jeans. She pressed her face against the glass as she looked down on the planet Earth. "Coooooooooooooool," she said. Then she giggled and hopped up and down on the balls of her feet. "Space, the final frontier," she then struck a pose, "to boldly go where no Zoe has gone before."

"Yes," J'onn said, causing the young woman to turn in his direction, "I suppose it is an impressive sight for some."

The woman pushed the goggles up on her forehead and her eyes widened as she looked at him. "Cool!" She blurred out again for a moment, suddenly appearing right in front him. "You even have a little green man." Then she blinked as she looked up at him, raising her hand to compare their height difference. "Okay, so you're not little...but you're green. Are you a real alien?" Then a look of horror suddenly formed on her face and she started to take a step backwards. "Oh god, you're not going to probe me, are you?"

By now several personnel in the control center were coughing, though others failed to hide their laughter. J'onn rubbed the bridge of his nose again. _Oh yes, I think I'm experiencing a migraine...and she's only been here for less than four minutes._

"Whoa there, girl," Flash said as he appeared next to the girl that had identified herself as Zoe. "He's a Martian, one of the good guys."

"Really?" Zoe looked over J'onn again, then frowned and shook her head. "He's really a Martian? Kind of disappointed. "You don't look like Marvin."

Flash's hand immediately went to cover his mouth, barely managing to smother his laughter.

"Which really sucks," Zoe continued, "because I always wanted one of those hand-held deathray thingies." She sighed, shoulders slumping slightly. "Oh well...hey, at least you're not like one of those Martians with the tentacle things and driving giant three legged walker machines that rampage through cities."

"Um...no," Wally said, "that was the Imperium."

Zoe suddenly stopped and looked at Wally. "Really?" she asked.

"Yeah, they invaded a couple years ago, we fought them off."

"Alien invasions," Zoe mused, "haven't had that yet on our world."

"Which brings be back to what I asked earlier," Kara said as she drifted down to where Zoe and Wally were, stopping so she was floating a couple feet off the ground. "Are you from Apokalips?"

"Do I look like an alien invader to you?" Zoe snapped as she reached into her jacket pocket and pulled out a black and pink wallet which she held up for Kara and Wally to see. "And would an alien invader have a Hello Kitty wallet?" She caught the amused look on Wally's face. "Hey, don't judge me...I've had that wallet since I was seven."

Wally raised his hands defensively. "Not judging you."

"Yeah you were, Captain Body Condom."

"Was not."

"Were too."

"Was not."

"Were too."

"Enough!" Everyone looked up and saw J'onn glaring down at them from the control center. "Kara, it is obvious this young woman is not from Apokalips. However, I may do a telepathic scan if permitted."

"Oh god," Zoe cried out in mock horror. "He IS going to probe me!"

"Seriously, what is up with you and the alien probe fetish?" Wally asked.

"Not a fetish...it's just, we're in space, he's an alien, a GREEN alien, a MARTIAN alien, which means, if you want to go by the stereotype, and just about every science fiction trope, instant alien probing."

"Hey, I'm an alien too," Kara said as she landed next to Zoe.

Zoe paused for a moment, appearing to think about something before giving Kara a coy look. "Really," she said, taking a couple steps towards Kara, bringing herself face to face with the Argosian female. "Well," she said in a semi-seductive tone and giving Kara a wink, "I don't really swing that way, but I'm up for a little experimentation if you are."

Wally, along with almost every other male in the immediate area of the control center (which included Atom Smasher and Vigilante along with the Watchtower staff), except J'onn, stopped what they were doing and looked at the two women.

Kara blushed slightly and stepped back. "Um, no...I don't swing that way either."

"Are you sure?" Zoe asked.

"Yeah, are you sure?"

Both Kara and Zoe glared at Wally.

"Oh," he said, "I didn't mean to say that out loud."

Kara then turned to address the rest of the control center. "Okay, everyone, nothing to see here."

"Aw man," they heard one technician groan. "Nothing cool happens on my shift."

A few seconds later, everyone resumed what they were doing. Zoe tossed Wally her wallet. "I'm not an alien invader, Flash," she said as he caught the wallet. "It's got my driver's license, a debit card, and my SST card."

"SST? What's that?" Kara asked.

"Syndrome Software and Technology," Zoe replied. "It's where I work. My boyfriend owns the company."

"What do you do, exactly?" This question came from Batman who entered the control center, flanked by Wonder Woman and Green Lantern.

Zoe arched an eyebrow. "Computer programming," she said before giving Batman a knowing grin. "But YOU would probably have figured that out by now, wouldn't you? Tell your friend I want to meet with her, she's one hell of a coder...practically built a firewall from scratch in thirty seconds after I trashed the old one."

Batman glared at her for a moment, his eyes narrowing as he studied her.

"Damn," Zoe muttered as she shuddered slightly, "you really do have a death glare."

"You also hacked LexCorp, STAR labs, and even attempted to hack the Watchtower."

"Guilty," Zoe admitted with a shrug. "But can you blame me? After all, when you get dumped on a parallel world with nothing, wouldn't you try to gather resources and intel on where you're at?"

"But I wouldn't get caught."

"Of course not," Zoe scoffed. "Because you're," she struck another exaggerated pose, doing a mocking impression of Batman's glare and rasped, " _ **The GODDAMN Batman!"**_

Batman stood there for a moment, almost like a statue as he stared at Zoe again. "Interesting," he finally said. "You're not the first to use that particular set of words."

"So what? It's not like people have said it before."

"Not to my face." Batman glared at the young woman again as he stepped forward. Almost everyone except Wonder Woman and Green Lantern seemed affected by this, stepping back from the intimidating figure that now seemed to dominate the room.

Zoe looked frightened for a moment, then started to giggle. "Oh...my...god, I actually felt a chill down my spine." Then she pulled her goggles down over her eyes. "And while you may know about seventeen ways to beat the shit out of me-"

"Twenty-seven, actually, that are non-lethal."

"Good to know, but let me finish. I can outrun you, though I'm sure, because you're the G.D.B., you have probably figured out some way to even the playing field and maybe even neutralize me if we actually got into a fight. But you won't, for two reasons."

"I'm listening."

"Okay, reason number one," Zoe continued as she counted off on her fingers. "I'm not an enemy or a threat to you."

"I disagree."

"Whatever. Reason number two." She shrugged off her backpack and opened it. "Okay, hold on a second," she said, rummaging through the backpack and taking out various items. "Hmmm...laptop, some money, coffee cards...more coffee cards...oh yeah!" She pulled out a small paper bag. "Mocha truffles from Beanery Extreme." She opened the bag then frowned. "Ewwww...melted." She tossed the paper bag aside, failing to notice Wally suddenly swoop in to grab the bag and devour the melted chocolates.

"What? Wally asked as the other heroes stared at him. "Melted mocha truffles are still good."

"Ah ha!" Zoe exclaimed as she pulled out what she was looking for. "I knew it was in here...wrapped up in a copy of the Daily Planet." She unwrapped the item, throwing the discarded newspaper on the ground before tossing the device to Batman who caught it. "And that," she said, her tone becoming more serious, "is reason number two."

"What is it?" Wally asked, the question directed more at Batman than Zoe.

"That, members of the spandex and cape clique, is the damn device that brought me to your world," Zoe quipped as she loaded her items into her backpack. "Wait a second, what happened to my melted mocha truffles?"

"Is that what I think it is?" Green Lantern asked.

"Yes," Batman replied. "It's damaged, but is more intact than the other device we recovered." He looked over at Kara. "Supergirl, show our...guest...around, and see about setting her up with guest quarters." He looked over in Wally's direction. "Flash, conference room in five minutes." He held up the device to take a closer look at it. "J'onn, get the others as well." Then, without, another word, he walked off, headed in the direction of the elevators.

* * *

Diana prided herself on the fact she was one of maybe three people who could read Batman's body language. Yes, it was true he still came off as cold, calculating, and intimidating, but she detected the slight facial tick along his jawline. It was a dead giveaway, actually; Batman was truly taken off guard and was surprised. She glanced over at Green Lantern who shrugged as they both followed Batman into the elevator.

"Batman," she started to say as soon as the elevator doors closed. "What's-"

Batman held up a hand holding a small black device. "Hold on." He pushed a button on the device, which hummed for a second before going silent. "White noise, generator," he said, answering the unspoken question.

"Bruce, what's going on?"

"Not here, Diana, I want all of us in the conference room." Batman looked over at Green Lantern. "In light of what happened with the Annihilator incident, I'm taking no chances, especially since the device that young woman gave us confirms our suspicions."

"And that is?"

"Someone here on Earth managed to reverse engineer a Mother Box, or at least something that can activate a boom tube."

* * *

Kara watched in fascination, amusement, and maybe a little horror as Zoe sat at their cafeteria table and downed yet ANOTHER twenty-four once mocha (with six shots). Then she rolled her eyes as the pink haired girl leaned back and closed her own eyes for a moment, savoring the taste.

"Oh yeah," Zoe purred, "definite bliss right there." She opened her eyes and noticed Kara staring at her. "What?"

"Okay, your reaction when you drink mochas is a little scary," Kara said. "Not to mention the fact that you drank over three hundred of them earlier today. Even Flash doesn't go that crazy on the coffee."

"Ah, coffee," Zoe giggled. "That beautiful juice that comes from sacred bean of life. Can't live without it." She then took a bite of the cinnamon roll that was on the tray in front of her. "These aren't too bad either. Granted, I'd rather have one of Ash's coffee cake muffins, but this will do."

"Ash?" Kara asked. Though it was out of innocent curiosity, she was trying to see what information she could gather about Zoe's world. She knew that her cousin and the rest of the "founding" members would probably be questioning their pink haired visitor as well, but she had the sick feeling that wouldn't go well, especially if Batman was the one asking the questions.

"Ashley," Zoe replied. "Best damn barista, cook, and all around awesome friend." She pulled out her cell-phone, got up and moved her chair around the table so she could next to Kara, and then brought up her phone's photo gallery. "Let me show you."

Kara watched as Zoe thumbed through the photos. Zoe stopped at one photo that showed a young woman with strawberry-blond hair wearing an apron, standing behind a counter, and smiling as she gave the camera a thumbs up. "That's Ashley," Zoe said. "She owns and runs the Neon Cafe in the SST main lobby." She moved on to another picture that showed her, Ashley, a large rocky humanoid (that Kara swore looked like Doomsday's little brother wearing a white lab coat), and another young woman with long dark hair wearing leather pants, boots, and a black t-shirt. The four of them were at some sort of festival and a small dog (it appeared to be an Australian shepherd) was sitting next to Zoe, head tilted to one side and mouth hanging out.

"Where's this?" Kara asked.

"Company block party thrown around Christmas near SST," Zoe replied. "As you can see, Ashley's there, the big rock is Larry...one of the best engineers there, he and Ashley are kind of an item now."

"Kind of an item?"

"Hey, it took him months to ask her out because he thought she was way out of his league, with her being kind of hot and him being, as he put it, 'an uber-science geek'." When Kara gave her a questioning look, Zoe shrugged. "Hey, he may look like a badass in his nova form, but he's this skinny black kid from Brooklyn when he's powered down." Then she smiled. "But no matter what form he's in, he has a big heart and is the first to step in to protect his friends, no matter what. And that's what Ashley likes about him."

"And the dog and the dark haired girl?"

"The dog, is Brody, my other best friend. David gave him to me as a present when he was a pup...still is a pup, but he's growing fast." Zoe sighed, her smile diminishing a little. "I hope he's okay. Ash usually takes care of him when I'm not around. As for the dark haired girl..." Zoe's tone changed slightly, if Kara didn't know any better she suspected there was a hint of jealousy there. "That's Violet, David's VP, and she is kind of a bitch, but after all that's happened the last few months, I'm going to say that she's a friend."

Kara glanced over at Zoe. "Why do I get the feeling there's a story there?"

"There is, but it's kind of a long one and I'm not sure I can tell you the whole story without permission. But I can give you the quick and dirty version."

"Okay, spill."

"David's biological father was kind of an asshole and an enemy of Violet's family. He went so far as to try to kill them and kidnap the youngest child about eight years ago. Evil bastard got killed, David shows up eight years later to reclaim what's left of his old man's empire, starts his own company, and offers Violet a job."

"I take it David is not like his father."

"Nope, although he can be a ruthless bastard when you piss him off." Then Zoe smiled again, blushing slightly. "But he's a really sweet guy and cares about his friends. And as a boyfriend...well..."

"Okay, I gotta' see what this guy looks like, especially since he's got you hot and bothered."

"So not true!" Zoe exclaimed. "I am not hot and bothered."

"Oh, c'mon let me see," Kara said, grabbing Zoe's phone.

"Hey!"

Kara thumbed through a couple photos, some of them of a three story building with the SST logo on the front. Then she saw a picture of Zoe with a young man in his late teens (or early twenties) with short cropped red hair wearing jeans, a t-shirt, and an over-shirt that he wore like a jacket (unbuttoned down the front). He wasn't physically imposing, but had a medium build that suggested he stayed in shape. He had an arm draped around Zoe's shoulder and he was pointing at the camera with a mischievous grin. "Damn, he's not bad at all."

"No, he isn't," Zoe said, snatching the phone back. "He's really a good guy, despite what people say about him."

Kara didn't say anything for a moment as she processed what limited information she got from Zoe. _Okay, there's obviously more than what she's telling. The mention of this David's father and his father's history suggests something very nasty happened. And from what I've seen, it would appear that this David employs metahumans at his company._

"Zoe," she finally said, figuring now would be a good time to fish for more information. "Does David employ metahumans?"

"Metahumans?" Zoe seemed confused for a second before she nodded in understanding. "You mean, novas? Yeah...almost everyone at SST is a nova or a talented baseline. Hell, even our maintenance/janitorial/security guy is a nova."

"So this is an actual company?"

"Well, duh...we have to make a living somehow, right?"

"You're not heroes or anything?"

Zoe, who was about to take a sip from another mocha almost choked when she laughed. "Heroes? Us? Oh hell no...we're working stiffs. We are a for profit R&D and software engineering firm. We're not part of the spandex and cape set...well, Violet was, but I think she likes the leather look she's got going and it works for her."

"But don't you have heroes in your world, like us?"

Zoe's face broke into an evil grin. "Like you? No...not really. Sure, we do have heroes and bad guys out there, but most of them are in it for the paychecks or corporate sponsorships."

"What?"

Zoe sighed and shook her head. "Okay, Supergirl, I'm going to try and put this nicely since you seem like a cool person and all."

"Kara."

"What?"

"That's my name, call me Kara."

"Okay, Kara," Zoe continued, "to say our world is vastly different is a fucking understatement. The so called 'supervillains' out there," Zoe made 'air-quote' gestures with her fingers when she said 'supervillains', "they are mostly mercenary elites or someone being paid to do something. Very rarely will you find some nova brick knocking over banks for the cash. Why do that when you can get PAID by that very same bank or some security firm for honest work from various clients who will pay a shitload of cash for your unique services? Granted some of these guys take jobs that do run afoul of the law and there are novas that will come out and face them, but they too are on someone's payroll. Hell, almost all super-powered teams have some corporate sponsor or the novas on those team have individual contracts. Very rarely will you see someone playing 'hero' for altruistic reasons. Even our world's so called 'premiere ' super team, Team Tomorrow...they all have sponsorship and corporate contracts." She then gave Kara a sad look. "It's kind of sad, really. Yeah, we have heroes who save the world, but they care more about getting caught on camera doing it so they can get more publicity or a new line of action figures in their fucking likeness so they can get royalties off the sales."

Kara could hear the bitterness in the other girl's voice. "Ouch," she said. "Was it always like that?"

Zoe shook her head. "Not really. In fact, about twenty years ago or so...well before my time...our world was like yours. Then some shit happened and there was a ban that went into effect for fifteen years until a couple events happened that caused the ban to be lifted. However, things changed, people got more opportunistic and greedy over the years. Governments and organizations like the United Nations got involved over the last eight years and shit has hit the fan. So, needless to say, Kara, being stuck in your world is kind of a throwback to how things used to be in my world. I just hope you people aren't as naive and clueless like my parents' generation was."

* * *

Sitting in around the table in the Inner Conference Room, the seven founding members watched the conversation between Kara and Zoe via surveillance cam and the live video feed being sent via holographic projection hovering over the middle of the table.

"Okay," Superman said, "I think we've seen enough." The holographic feed dissipated and he looked at the other members. "So what do you all think? Alien invader or is she telling the truth."

"Having done a light scan of her mind, I can assure you that she is telling the truth," J'onn J'onzz replied. "But I get the feeling that she is keeping something from us."

"Like what?" Wally asked. "And by the way," he added, "I'm not sure I like the idea of spying on Zoe and Kara like that."

"She's a potential threat, Wally," Green Lantern John Stewart said, "someone from another world, a parallel world apparently."

"The only thing she seems to be a threat to is the coffee bean population," Wally said. He tapped a couple keys on the keypad embedded in the table in front of him and the holographic display brought up Zoe's driver's license they had taken from her wallet. "According to this, she's a seventeen year old girl from a place called Metroville, California. Yeah, she's committed some petty crimes here, but she doesn't have that threat vibe."

"Need I remind you that hacking three major companies and digitally robbing three hundred thousand from one of them is NOT a petty crime?" Batman snarled softly. "And from what I've gathered from the conversation she had with Kara, I'm not sure about the people she affiliated with back in her own world. This 'boyfriend' of hers, the one who runs this company sounds like he could be a threat given what Miss Kilmarten has spoken of his background."

"Aw, c'mon, Bats...you make it sound like this guy might be their world's version of Lex Luthor." Flash chuckled, amused by his own comment, then stopped when he saw Batman glaring at him. "Oh, c'mon now, really?"

In response, Batman tapped a couple keys on the keypad in front of his place at the table and the holographic representation of Zoe's driver's license vanished and was replaced by what appeared to be some sort of ID card that had her picture and a corporate logo that said "SST" in neon blue letters against a black background. "This is her security ID card for the company she claims to work for," he said. "It's embedded with a chip with unique programming code."

"Well, duh," Wally snapped. "It's a tech firm she works for. It makes since that they have technology similar to our own."

"Perhaps," Batman admitted, "but it's on par with OUR technology, here on the Watchtower, not that of our planet Earth."

"How so?" Diana asked.

"The technology we have here on the Watchtower is the most advanced here on Earth. Combined with Kryptonian and Thanagarian technology we should have been able to crack the data on Miss Kilmarten's security card and access the data on that chip."

"Whoa, hold up," Wally said. "You're saying that despite our tech level, we can't crack whatever encryption is on that chip?"

"Oh, we can 'crack' it," Batman replied. "And the moment we do, the chip literally re-encrypts itself. Whatever minuscule data we managed to retrieve in the process ends up being corrupted and then attempts to corrupt our own system. It's a good thing our firewalls update as well during such an event or the corruption could have spread through the entire station."

"But that's impossible," John Stewart said. "That would indicate the chip on that card is active like a mini computer of its own and have some sort of limited AI."

"I'm not sure I like where this is going," Shayera Hol said. "I've read through some of the data archives here and this reminds me a little much of-"

"Brainiac," Superman finished for her. "He would be capable of creating something like that."

"Oh hell no," Wally groaned. "Please tell me we're not dealing with that thing. Besides, no offense, but I don't think Brainac would employ someone like Zoe."

"Agreed, but it would appear we are dealing with something on that level." Batman tapped another key on his pad and the image of the security card vanished. "After our third attempt to de-encrypt the chip, the terminal we were using crashed and the power in that section went out for thirty seconds. When the power returned, the terminal's main screen had this message on it." A new image flickered in existence over the table showing one of the many terminal stations on the Watchtower with a simple sentence in big bold glowing blue letters on its screen.

 **LAST WARNING: FUCK OFF OR I WILL MELT DOWN YOUR NETWORK**

"Okay, I may not have dealt with Brainiac as much as some of you guys have," Wally smirked, "but I'm going to go out on a limb here and say this doesn't sound like him."

"It may not be him," Batman said as he tapped one more key, causing the image to shift again and display a window of flowing data. "But this appeared on the screen after that message."

"Is that what I think it is?" J'onn asked.

"Yes, you are looking at the source code to the Watchtower's overall network operating system." With one final key tap, Batman made the image vanish. "This all happened in the last forty-five minutes since Miss Kilmarten gave Flash her wallet. Needless to say, we have removed the card from the terminal we were using and have our whole system going through a diagnostic."

Stewart let out a low whistle. "Damn," he muttered. "Makes me wonder exactly what kind of world this girl comes from"

"A very cynical one." Everyone turned in Wonder Woman's direction to see her sitting there with a thoughtful look on her face. "Wherever this world is," she continued, "it's a place where people like us are thought of as a joke."

"Diana?" Though no one else caught it, Diana of Themiscyra gave the hint of a smile as she heard the slight softening in Batman's voice.

"Bruce, you heard what she said. She referred to us as 'throwbacks' to how things once were 'before' her time. She even referred to her parents generation as 'naïve and clueless'." She drummed her fingers on the table for a moment as she kept replaying the conversation in her head. "She said something happened about twenty years ago on her world, something that resulted in a ban on super powered beings."

"Yeah," Wally said, nodding in agreement. "But she also said that it only lasted for about fifteen years and the ban was lifted." Then he stopped for a moment when a thought occurred to him. "Hold on, is that even possible? I don't mean to sound all pompous and everything, but...how could any government around the world ban people with super powers?"

"Well, if something happened where various governments banned them, I could see some law abiding citizens with powers going with it," Green Lantern said.

Shayera raised an eyebrow at him. "Would you?"

John Stewart shook his head. "Probably not, but that would bring up another question. How would any government enforce such a policy?"

"Perhaps they have their own version of CADMUS and they had ways to enforce such a ban." Batman's answer caused almost everyone in the room to shudder at that implication.

"Great," Wally muttered. "Way to give me nightmares, Bats. Okay, so maybe most of the good guys went along with it, but I don't see any of the villains going along with it. And what about those heroes who wouldn't go along with it?"

"It wouldn't be hard." Batman leaned forward slightly in his chair as he looked at the others. "An example would be made of most powerful of the violators. Target them in such a way, possibly kill them, that would send a message to everyone else that they would share in that person's fate. Example, Superman, would you go along with such a ban?"

The Man of Steel actually seemed taken aback by that sudden question. "I don't see how that matters in this conversation."

"Humor me. Would you willingly go with such a ban if it was made into law?"

For several seconds, Superman said nothing, getting curious looks from the others who were intrigued at how the most powerful member of their group would respond to such a situation. Finally, he sighed and shook his head. "I honestly don't know, Batman. I'd probably contemplate my options."

"Then let me tell you what a group like CADMUS would do. They would probably target one, or all seven of us. They have access to enough Kryptonite and technology they would use to take you down, or at least seriously injure you. They may not kill you, but they could hurt you and perhaps even incapacitate you." The Dark Knight then gestured at all of them. "Any one of us could be a target, and they would succeed in at least killing one of us. What kind of effect do you think that would have on the rest of the League?"

"They'd fight back," Shayera replied. "I know I would."

"Which is what they would want. Then they could spin it around and convince the rest of the world they were right and we'd play right into their hands by being the exact threat they portrayed us to be."

"Whoa, hold on there, Batman. I doubt any of us would go the Justice Lords route."

"Do you think so, Wally?" Batman's eyes narrowed as he glared at the Flash. "On that world, there were only seven of us, six after your counterpart was killed, and they took over an entire world before trying to take over this one. We now have at least a hundred members, how many of them do you think would decide to fight and avenge us? And what do you think CADMUS and other government agencies around the world would do to stop them?"

For the next few seconds, silence dominated to conference room until Batman said the three word answer that no one else wanted to say out loud.

"Mutually assured destruction." Batman tapped another key that brought back the livestream video feed from the cafeteria where Kara and Zoe were eating (and Zoe was building a little house with her empty coffee cups). "Someone or something happened on that world that forced them to abide by such a ban for fifteen years. The real question now is what happened that had them lift such a ban?"

He tapped another key and a three dimensional projection of the device Zoe had given them appeared on the surface of the conference table. "And then you have this...someone's attempt to create a Mother Box, or at least some type of Boom Tube generator; and it looks like they succeeded."

"Yeah, except, if what you're saying is true, they're not going to other alien worlds," Flash said. "They're going into alternate dimensions, other Earths. But why?"

"Given that the remains of such a device was found in Gotham Harbor and who showed up looking for it, I think it's safe to say CADMUS was trying to acquire technology they could use against us."

"And this girl somehow got pulled into our world from hers," J'onn concluded.

"Yes," Batman replied, tapping a few more keys, clearing the holographic display and bringing up two mugshots belonging to two new guests at Arkham Asylum. "And I have a feeling these two idiots might also have come from that world as well."

"What makes you so sure about that?" Superman asked.

"Because those two men single handedly wiped out an entire branch of a mafia family and part of the Red Cobra triad and blowing up a large section of the Gotham waterfront in the process." Another tap of a key and the image was replaced with video footage. "This was from last night when one of these men was interviewed by Doctor Lawrence Drake."

* * *

 ** _"I am Doctor Lawrence Drake, I'm one of the psychologists here on staff at Arkham."_**

 ** _"Shit, this can't be happening, this can't be real."_**

 ** _"I assure, young man, this is real. May I ask your name?"_**

 ** _"Don't think it matters, but my name is Jean-Paul Renard. And I gotta' tell you, this isn't necessary."_**

 ** _"On the contrary, Mr. Renard, the straitjacket is very necessary. According to the police reports, you and your friend killed several criminals and blew up a warehouse in Gotham Harbor."_**

 ** _"Okay, first off, it was self-defense. And second, this can't be real."_**

 ** _"Mr. Renard...Jean...may I call you Jean? This is very real and I can't believe that you think this kind of act is going to convince people that you're crazy. This is Arkham, believe me, I KNOW crazy, and you aren't it."_**

 ** _"No...no! You don't fucking get it. I'm not crazy! When I say this can't be real, I mean all of it. You, Arkham, the GODDAMN BATMAN, Gotham City...it's impossible."_**

 ** _"*SIGH*Okay, fine, Mr. Renard, I'll humor you. Tell me why this can't be possible. Tell me why this isn't real."_**

 ** _"Because you aren't real...you're works of fiction...YOU"RE FUCKING COMIC BOOK CHARACTERS!"_**

* * *

Batman paused the video footage and studied the reactions of the other League members in the room. Superman and Wonder Woman seemed puzzled at this revelation, but it was the reaction on the other four members' faces that said it all. Having experienced a similar event, J'onn, Shayera, John Stewart, and Wally couldn't hide the collective look of shock they shared.

But it was John Stewart who summed the situation up nicely.

"Well...damn...this can't be good."


	7. What side of the rabbit hole are we on?

Disclaimer: Justice League Unlimited, owned by DC/Warner Brothers. Aberrant, owned by White Wolf Games and Onyx Publishing.

Author's Notes: Okay, not much going on here, mostly some exposition, some flashbacks, and other clues. I originally had planned to write a knock-down drag-out brawl between Batman and the two schmucks from Metroville, but I realized that, given the experience all three men are supposed to have, it wouldn't be that long of a fight and they would try to end it as brutal and quickly as possible. And yes, I did poke fun at certain things involving Batman. Don't get me wrong, I don't hate the character, but I couldn't resist taking a few jabs at him (or at least the Shumacher version). Now, for some of those who have read my previous stories, you're probably wondering why Bomber and Slapstick couldn't just walk in and beat the shit out of Batman...well, aside from being "The GODDAMN BATMAN!", he's we'll versed in MULTIPLE forms of hand to hand combat and probably knows more than Bomber and Slapstick. While Bats may be a "baseline", he's a baseline with maximum human norms and more experience than Bomber and Slapstick put together. That being said, Bomber and Slapstick are novas and probably could take him out if they were at the top of their game, BUT they would still get beaten to a bloody pulp even with their regenerative abilities. But again, that's just my lame opinion.

As usual, comments, criticism, and threats are welcome...but spamming is not.

* * *

 **Research Lab 7**

 **Watchtower**

Sitting quietly in one of the dozen research labs that were on the station, the Batman studied the surveillance footage he had gotten from the Batwing. He had also managed to salvage some camera footage from buildings nearby the Zucco warehouse in Gotham Harbor, but it was grainy and really didn't show much except for a firefight and then an explosion a few minutes later.

The Batwing footage, however, was far more interesting to watch since he had the aircraft hover nearby and monitoring him. But even just watching the footage caused Batman to wince ever so slightly as he saw himself take those hits from these two new players. After watching the video interviews from Arkham, things started to fall into place and it also explained the reactions he got from the two men when he confronted them.

* * *

:(Flashback):

"No...Fucking...Way..."

The Dark Knight paused for a moment as he glared at the two men. To the rest of the world, it looked as if Batman was doing what he does best: staring down two targets in what would usually be a successful attempt to intimidate his opponents and throw them off balance before proceeding to beat them to a bloody pulp and leaving them behind for the police. At least, that's what it looked like to the rest of the world (if they were watching).

Instead, the Batman was bemused. His appearance tended to strike fear in those he faced, even those who never personally encountered him. His reputation among the underworld alone gave even the most hardened criminal pause. Even his most dangerous adversaries knew better than to take him lightly.

"Um...Nick?"

"Yes, Jean?"

The man Batman identified as "Jean" stood about six and a half feet tall and had a medium build. Batman guessed the man to be around two-hundred and thirty pounds and moved around like someone who was familiar with close quartets combat. Even as the man got up, Batman could see the man almost unconsciously shifting his weight in preparation for a fight."Am I imagining things or is there some idiot dressed up like the Batman glaring at us?"

The other man standing a few feet away from Jean, the one called "Nick", was a few inches shorter had had more of a wiry build. Like Jean, he was back on his feet and also ready to fight with a pistol in one hand and a katana in the other. "Um, no, Jean," Nick replied with a toothy grin, "you are not imagining things because there is, indeed, some idiot cosplayer giving us the patented 'Batglare', complete with the whole 'eye-narrowing' thing that is supposed to make superstitious and cowardly criminals piss their pants."

"Okay, so just to confirm, I'm not imagining it."

"Nope, I see it too."

"Great, a comic book poser dressed up like the Dork Knight."

"Hey, at least it's not the suit with nipples."

The man called Jean shook his head, a look of disgust on his face. "Aw, man, you had to bring it up." He then looked straight at the Dark Knight. "Sir, if you happen to look like George Clooney underneath that mask, you're going to WISH we had killed you."

Again, Batman, caught off guard, stood there, saying nothing.

 _George Clooney? That actor Clayface murdered five years ago?_

"Who are you two?" Batman snarled.

This time, Nick suddenly started laughing. "Oh my god! He's even got the 'Goddamn Batman' voice down. This is fucking awesome! Dude, seriously...the whole fanboy thing is wasted on you. You could do the goddamn movies if they ever decide to bring the franchise back."

 _Franchise? Movies?_

"Last warning," the Dark Knight growled. "Stand down, or you go down hard."

The two men stared at Batman for a moment then looked back at each other. "What do you think, Jean?"

"I think this moron needs a taste of the real world."

"Agreed."

Batman had to admit that if he hadn't anticipated their response, he would have been caught by surprise by how quick they moved. But even as they both moved towards him, he jumped away as he threw two batarangs at them, one for each target.

What he hadn't expected was for Jean to suddenly leap several feet in the air **into** the path of the batarang heading his direction. The man twisted effortlessly in the air, one arm outstretched, and managed to actually **catch** the object before coming down to the ground and rolling up into a crouch.

The one called Nick suddenly brought his pistol up with a speed that Batman could barely track and fired off a single shot that actually blasted the batarang out of the air.

All this happened in a matter of seconds and, as Batman was coming back down from his own evasive move, he barely managed to avoid his first batarang that was thrown back at him. He dropped and rolled to the side before coming back up on his feet only to receive a kick to his chest by Jean that sent him stumbling backwards. On instinct, he brought his arms and managed to deflect Nick's katana.

 _These two are clearly trained._

He stepped forward as Nick tried to slash at him again, deflecting the blade off his right arm gauntlet/glove and kicked the other man in the stomach, sending him flying backwards a half dozen feet before hitting a garbage dumpster.

 _But not that well trai-_

His world exploded in pain as a fragment of pipe slammed into the side of his head. Had it not been for the reinforced armoring of his cowl taking the brunt of the blow, Batman was certain his skull would have caved in. As he staggered back, he instinctively blocked a flurry of punches and kicks, but a few blows managed to get through his guard and that told him even more about the person he was fighting.

 _This "Jean" is going for what he perceives to be weak points in my armor, delivering precise blows, focusing on my ribs and joints. And he hit me just after I took down his partner, almost as if-_

Then it suddenly clicked into place. These two were not only trained, but they trained together and their fighting style involved one distracting while the other moved to attack the moment his partner was taken down.

Once he realized what he was up against, instinct took over again and instead of blocking Jean's next kick, he let it come through. He winced as he heard a wet snap and felt the familiar sharp pain that informed him that a couple ribs were broken. But he grabbed on to Jean's leg and, using his own strength and momentum, turned and hurled Jean into the path of Nick who was trying to attack from behind.

There's was a sickening "splutch" sound of cold steel entering a human body as Jean was impaled on Nick's katana before the two hit the ground.

"Oh shit," Nick muttered as he rolled back up on his feet, and firing a couple rounds from his pistol that caused Batman to jump to the shadows for cover. "Sorry, about that, Jean."

Jean moaned, coughing up blood as he pulled himself self up to a sitting position. "No," he choked out, "you're not...that...fucking...hurt."

From the shadows, Batman watched. The reactions of the two men to their situation seemed almost out of place. One of them had a potentially fatal wound and the other one didn't seem too concerned about it.

 _These two are obviously long time partners in crime, and close friends, but something doesn't seem right about them._

Nick looked around the alley for a moment and then spoke aloud. "Okay, poser," he said to the shadows. "Not sure why you're dressing up like a failed comic book character when you can do honest work as an Elite and get a good paycheck for it, but you apparently don't know who you're dealing with." He then looked down at his friend who had managed to bring himself up on his knees. "You ready for this, Jean?"

"Just fucking do it already," Jean hissed.

Nick reached over with one hand and grabbed the katana by the hilt. "Okay, I'm going to be a little quick about this, so it might-"

"FUCK!" Jean screamed as Nick suddenly yanked the katana out of his body. He dropped back down on his hands and knees again, taking a few deep breaths. "Dammit, Nick," he snarled, "that fucking hurt."

"Now we're even for the whole getting my chest blown open by a plasma burst," Nick quipped.

Jean managed to stagger back to his feet, but had to lean against an alley wall to stay standing. "Okay," he said, "you might have a point there."

Batman's eyes narrowed as he observed the two. _Great, two unknown metahumans in my city...and they took out Vincent Zucco and the Red Cobras._

"Who are you working for?" he demanded as he stepped out of the shadows behind them.

Both men turned around to face him, and again, Batman could see the look of amused disgust on their faces.

"At the moment, no one," Jean replied, holding up the four foot long pipe he had picked up out of the alley and had hit the Dark Knight with earlier. "Nick, can you...um...you know...?"

Nick hesitated for a moment. "Wha-? Oh yeah...long stick not your form." With a speed that Batman has only seen among members of the League of Shadows, Nick suddenly swung out with the katana, slicing the pipe in two. Jean, caught the falling piece of pipe in his other hand and gave it a twirl. "Better?" Nick asked.

"Yeah," Jean replied before returning his attention to Batman. "As for you, poser boy. I'm not sure what you're malfunction is, but you're not a fucking superhero and this sure as hell isn't Gotham City."

Nick was the first who noticed the sound of approaching footsteps and glanced down at the other end of the alley before reaching over to tap his friend's arm. "Um...Jean."

"Not now, Nick, let me indulge in some crappy monologuing with the poser here."

"No, seriously, Jean...you need to see this."

"Nick, do mind, I'm in the middle of-" Jean was suddenly cut off by police spotlight suddenly shining down on their position from an overhead helicopter. Then the sounds of weapons being cocked made him turn to look where Nick was gesturing.

About a dozen police officers in SWAT gear and carrying riot shields with GCPD painted on the front of them stood there. "Gotham PD," someone announced over a megaphone. "Drop your weapons or we will open fire."

Batman took this opportunity to slip back into the shadows, but he stayed nearby, prepared to act in case these two did engage the police.

"Okay, Jean," Nick said, "either we landed in a very convincing movie set belonging a shitty franchise that should have died with Joel Schumacher or we're actually in Gotham City."

"Not buyin' it," Jean said. "Can you port out of here and get us some gear?"

"Um...that's the other problem, Jean." This time, Nick was serious when he spoke. "I can't lock onto my usual jump points. It's like they're not there." He then looked over at the police officers that had their guns pointed at them. "If you wanna' go Butch and Sundance on these guys, I'm all for it, but I think we should get some intel first."

For a moment, Jean looked like he was about to attack, but then he shrugged and dropped the two pieces of pipe he was holding before raising his hands and dropping to his knees. A second later, Nick did the same.

"This all your fault, Nick."

"Fuck you, Jean."

:(End Flashback):

* * *

Batman looked at the terminal's monitor as it replayed the Arkham interviews of the two men. The one called Jean-Paul Renard (or Bomber) seemed to still be in a state of disbelief, ranting about how this couldn't be real. But it was the interview with Renard's partner, Nicholas "Slapstick" DeYorke, that Batman found more disturbing.

* * *

 ** _Lawrence Drake: "Okay, so what's your name again?"_**

 ** _Nicholas DeYorke: "My full name is Nicholas William DeYorke, but I prefer being called Nick. I also go by the codename Slapstick because of my wacky personality and psychotic tendencies when doing a job."_**

 ** _LD (muttering): "As if that's anything new around here."_**

 ** _ND: "What was that, Doc?"_**

 ** _LD: "Nothing...so, Nick, are you going to feign insanity like your friend and scream about how this isn't the real world? "_**

 ** _ND: "Hmmm...Jean feigning insanity? No, not buying it. I actually think he is quite insane...I mean, he is one of the best Elites out there, ranked right there with me, but he's throwing it all away."_**

 ** _LD: "Elites? What are Elites? I've heard your friend use that word quite a bit."_**

 ** _ND: "Well, here, I guess you would call them super-powered mercenaries."_**

 ** _LD: "I see. And why do you think your friend is insane?"_**

 ** _ND: "Because he's actually settling down...he's shacking up with the daughter of one of his father's old enemies. And what's scary is, after hanging around with them for a day, I can already see it...he actually has it bad for her. At the rate they're going, they'll be shopping at IKEA next and moving to some place out in the suburbs."*SHUDDER*_**

 ** _LD: "It sounds to me like you're jealous of him."_**

 ** _ND (laughs): "Jealous? No."_**

 ** _LD: "Was he your lover?"_**

 ** _ND: "Whoa...wait...what?"_**

 ** _LD: "Nothing wrong with that. But some people might want to try something. Maybe he decided he wasn't gay."_**

 ** _ND: "Dude...we're not gay. It's just that we've known each other since the second grade. We grew up in the same military academy together, we blew shit up together, and we even worked for the same contracting company. It's just that...we're a team...we kick ass and the world is our playground...and now he's giving it up to play house with some chick who turns invisible...although, she does look good in those tight leather pants she wears..."_**

 ** _LD: "So you don't think your friend is insane because he believes that he's trapped in a fictional world."_**

 ** _ND: "Oh...that? Um...no, that doesn't make him insane. The truth of the matter is this, he and I are trapped in a fictional world. Unlike him, I'm just going to ride out this little delusion and see where it leads."_**

 ** _LD: "So you don't believe this world is real either."_**

 ** _ND: "Of course it isn't real...although...for something that isn't real, that figment of the imagination pretending to be the Dork Knight really beat the shit out of us. Granted, we weren't at the top of our game after having gotten in a major gunfight with those cartel guys and blowing up that warehouse, but we put up a decent fight. Next time, we'll bring our A game and we'll break Batman's back and leave his broken body in that alley across the street from the Monarch Theater where that one rich couple was gunned down all those years ago."_**

* * *

Batman paused the footage and glared at the smug grin on DeYorke's face. It was obvious that DeYorke knew more than he was telling.

 _What bothers me is why they haven't come out and said anything yet._

The door to the lab opened and closed behind him. He swiveled his seat around to face his guests, barely managing to keep from wincing from the injuries he had sustained a few days ago. "Thank you for coming," he said.

J'onn J'onnz, flanked by Flash and Geen Lantern stood there.

"Where's Shayera?" Batman asked.

"She and Wonder Woman had to go to Themyscira," Wally replied. "They think it's connected to why Zatanna, Fate, and Etrigan are going crazy."

"Interesting," Batman said, momentarily lost in thought. "Our key mystically connected players hit with this madness at the same time our world gets more uninvited guests."

"You think there's a connection?" John Stewart asked.

"Possible, but unlikely," Batman replied. "And honestly, I would have preferred it if they were connected. I believe this is a separate incident and, if we're not careful, far more dangerous." He then looked over at Green Lantern. "I read the report on your incident regarding the trip you three and Hawkgirl took to that alternate reality that was based on the comic you read as a young boy."

"Not exactly something I'd like to revisit," John Stewart replied. Even though it had been over a year, there was still a hint of sadness in his voice.

"Hey, it wasn't all bad," Wally said, "though it was a little creepy and the world seemed a little...unrealistic...but it was interesting." Then his expression saddened a little. "And kind of a bummer when you realized what really happened and what all those people went through for nearly forty years. And then you have the Justice Guild themselves...finding out that they were really dead imaginary heroes." He shook his head. "I agree with GL, not something I really want to revisit."

"Then you're not going to like what I have to say next," Batman said as he stood up at of his chair.

"You believe that we are in a similar situation, but in reverse," J'onn stated.

"You've seen the video interviews of those two men currently locked up in Arkham. They called themselves 'Elites'."

"And Zoe Kilmarten also used that word when talking to Supergirl in the cafeteria," Flash added.

"I caught that as well," Batman said. "So it's obvious that she is from the same world as these two. They believed me to be a fictional comic book character." He looked over at J'onn. "I know you don't like doing a deep telepathic probe of unwilling subjects, but you did get a surface scan of her thoughts."

"I did," the green skinned Martian replied, "and I believe you are correct. Though I didn't probe deeply, it wasn't hard to get a sense of wonder and disbelief from her."

"Well, that's no surprise," Wally chuckled. "After all, we are the world's heroes and she is on a space station."

"But would you find it surprising if I told you that she thought of us as all as a big joke?"

"What!?"

"How so?" Batman asked.

J'onn sighed and shook his head. "It's hard to explain, Batman. But some of the thoughts I got from her were comparisons to what she had read and what we really were like." He then stared right at Dark Knight. "And, Batman, she knows who YOU are. She also knows who Superman is."

"Oh shit." The realization had just hit Wally. "And that means that those two guys in Arkham might know as well."

"Forget 'might know'," Batman said, "they do know. But they don't seem interested in blowing our identities."

"Then what do you think their game is?" Green Lantern asked.

"Well, I do know that Zoe Kilmarten does not seem interested in giving any secrets away," J'onn said. "She sees Supergirl and Flash as friends." A tiny smile tugged at the corner of his mouth as he looked at Batman. "She is also equally frightened and amused by you, Batman. Apparently she has been exposed to versions of us, you in particular, and I get the impression they weren't very flattering. In fact, she was comparing you to a dead actor."

"George Clooney," Batman said. "Yes, one of those two mentioned that as well."

"Wait...hold on, isn't that the actor that Clayface cut in half a few years back?" Wally looked a little sick as he recalled that incident. "Why would they compare you to him?"

"From what I gathered of her thoughts, a terrible movie was made and George Clooney portrayed Batman in that film." J'onn paused for a moment and shook his head. "That is most perplexing."

Wally looked at Batman for a moment. "I don't get it," he said, "you don't even look like him."

Green Lantern cleared his throat. "As amusing, and slightly disturbing, as this conversation is, what are we going to do about these 'guests'? Even if their knowledge of us is off, they could still pose a threat."

"Agreed," Batman replied, "but we can't move on Arkham now. That would be too obvious and there's no telling what those two can do. But there is another possibility."

"And what would that be?" J'onn asked.

"Perhaps we should ask Zoe Kilmarten about these two. If they are from the same world, there's a possibility she might know who they are and what they're capable of."

"Which brings up another uncomfortable topic," Wally said. "What are we going to do with her, exactly?"

"If it were up to me, I'd say keep her here at the Watchtower, but that could be inviting more trouble."

"How so?"

"This young lady managed to hack LexCorp, Wayne Enterprises, and STAR Labs with little effort and she managed to steal three hundred thousand dollars from Lex Luthor," Batman replied. "Imagine the damage she could do here if we gave her reason to." He shook his head as he came to a decision. "No, detaining her is not an option, but we can't let her run loose out there. J'onn, you said Zoe views Kara and Wally here as friends."

"Yes."

"Then we'll have Wally and Kara accompany Zoe when she's on world." He then looked over at Wally. "And you won't even have to lie about it, Wally. Just tell her the truth."

"Whoa, seriously? No offense, Bats, but this is kind of high-risk, even for you."

"The only other option is locking her up, and I'm not sure that would end well."

"Hmmm...no, you're right," Green Lantern said, a thoughtful expression on his face.

"Something on your mind, John?" Batman asked.

"Yeah...but it's probably just me being paranoid."

"No such thing as paranoid up here," Batman drawled, the tiniest hint of a smile on his face.

"If Zoe and those two men in Arkham are the result of CADMUS attempting cross-dimensional travel, what if they aren't the only ones that were brought here?"

* * *

 **Santa Fe, New Mexico**

 **CADMUS Headquarters**

Lex Luthor smiled as he entered the large room and looked at the young man sitting in a one-hundred square foot cell with reinforced plexiglas walls. With the exception of the chair he was sitting in, there was nothing else in the cell. Dressed in a dull yellow jumpsuit, the red-haired man didn't look like much.

 _Until you look at his eyes,_ Lex thought to himself. _Even now, you can see that he is analyzing the situation,attempting to find a solution...almost like a machine._

The young man identified as David Pine Flynn looked up at him and, for a moment, a flicker of emotion crossed his face. Lex wasn't sure, but it almost seemed to be one of surprise and recognition. "You," he said. He gave Lex a tiny smile, but his eyes were still cold and calculating. "Wasn't expecting YOU to be here."

"I doubt we've met, Mr. Flynn," Lex said. "But I assume you know who I am."

Flynn's smile got even bigger as he stood up out of his chair. "Oh yes, I know who you really are, Mr. Luthor."

"Then you know why I'm here," Lex said, slightly confused at the prisoner's reaction to him.

Flynn tilted his head to one side until an audible pop in his neck was heard before he returned his attention to Lex. "Oh, I'm sure it could be a variety of reasons, "he replied as he walked up to the edge of his cell. "It could be because Waller might have sent you here to talk to me, but that's doubtful because, while you may be on a leash, you have no desire to do what that power-mad bitch would say because you believe her and the rest of the people here to be beneath you. You could be here on your own initiative to see if you can get me to cooperate with you and possibly help you with your own agenda and find a way to undermine the bitch...a worthwhile idea, but then you'll probably turn on me and try to have me killed...or kill me yourself. I guess that last reason might be credible and there might be some truth to it, but I don't think that's the ultimate reason you're here. No...you're here because of SOMETHING else."

"And what might that be, Mr. Flynn?" Lex asked. He tried to keep his tone controlled and made sure that Flynn would realize who was in charge of this conversation, but there was something unnerving about the way the boy was staring at him.

Flynn laughed and dropped back in his chair. "It's because you're a pawn, Mr. Luthor. Then again, we both are. But all of us in this room have our own agendas here, don't we?"

 _All of us? What is he talking about? There are only two of us in here...he must believe we're being monitored. He doesn't know that I've disabled the feed to this area so we could talk in private. Oh well...let him think that._

"I take it you have plans of your own, Mr. Flynn?" Lex asked.

The young man nodded and chuckled. "Yeah, you could say that. Unfortunately, my current predicament kind of prevents me from accomplishing what I want."

"And what would that be?"

"Escaping, killing a certain blond haired clone, and crucifying the orca that is currently running this operation." Flynn spoke as if he were simply reading off a daily list while pretending to pick imaginary lint off his jumpsuit. He then looked at Lex again. "Not sure what YOUR plans are, and, to be honest...I don't care. Whatever you got planned, I want no part of but I won't stand in your way either."

Though he didn't show it, Lex felt a chill run down his spine. Somehow, he knew the prisoner was telling him the truth. "Suppose you are correct in your assessment, boy. If that is the case, then why should I trust you?"

Flynn smiled again, this time showing some teeth. "Because we have a common enemy," he replied. "Waller and her people made a fatal error kidnapping me. You stay out of my way, and I'll stay out of yours."

"I see."

"Do you now?" The young man chuckled again and shook his head. "No, Mr. Luthor, I don't think you do...but you will. And when your plans come to fruition, I intend to be long gone by then. After all," his grin suddenly became more predatory, "I'm reminded of a certain phrase someone recently told me...'not my world, not my problem'. Do what you want with yours, but stay the hell away from mine because, if you don't...I. WILL. BURN. YOU."

The words were spoken in a matter-of-fact pattern, but they managed to sting and Lex could not understand why. However, one look in the young man's eyes told Lex that he was not lying and that he meant what he said. But Lex, being the proud man that he was, managed to put on a mask of cold confidence and nodded. "Very well then," he said. "If you say so." He turned and started to walk away, but stopped as he reached the door and looked back over his shoulder. "Just remember, David Flynn, who the real power is around here and we'll get along fine."

David watched as the bald headed billionaire industrialist exited the room and shook his head. He had to admit, meeting the "real" Lex Luthor definitely destroyed the fictional versions he was aware of, and he had to admit the man could be a real threat.

 _But right now, you're just a pawn, Mr. Luthor. It's too bad you don't realize it. And it's too bad you had no clue who I was talking to during our conversation here. I wonder what your reaction will be to the fact that you're being played and who's been playing you all this time._

David smiled as he replayed the conversation in his mind. "If you only knew, Mr. Luthor...if you only fucking knew," he said softly. Then his expression darkened as he thought about the entity he was addressing, the being that was currently hidden within Luthor.

 _And you...cross me and I will keep my word._

For a moment, David sat there, closing his eyes and enjoying the silence of the room.

Until he got one simple response that echoed in the back of his mind.

 _ **"UNDERSTOOD."**_

* * *

Okay, for those of you who are new to this and not familiar with my previous stories, David is a "cyberkinetic". Not only that, he is, for all intents and purposes, an AI in a human body (long story there, but those who have read the other stories already know this). So it makes sense that he could sense another...well...I wouldn't say he and Brainiac are kindred spirits, but they are something. Okay, next chapter, more with Zoe...and Diana goes to a funeral service for an old friend.


	8. Revelations, Ranting, and Pizza?

Disclaimer: Aberrant, owned by White Wolf. Incredibles (though Jack isn't in this chapter) owned by Pixar. Justice League Unlimited, owned by Warner Brothers/DC.

Author's Notes: Also, as I noted before, I took some elements of the comics and merged them with the JLU 'verse. Example, Barbara Gordon/Batgirl did get shot and crippled by the Joker in my version. Oh, and if you're fans of Green Lantern John Stewart and Hawkgirl, I just want to apologize in advance before you read this chapter. I tried to keep them in character, but I will admit they are my two least favorite characters. When I first watched episodes from the show, Stewart came off as an overbearing asshole and Shayera...well..arrogant bitch came to mind, though I will admit I did eventually get to like these two as I watched the entire series from start to finish.

Oh...and for those of you who don't know who Zoe is...no, she's not always this flippant smartass you see in this chapter. She's actually a sweet and innocent...okay, not innocent...but she is a likable young woman with some interesting personality quirks. Oh...and if there are any Bomber and Slapstick fans reading this...enjoy this chapter.

My main concern is my portrayal of Batman...I hope I didn't ruin him or write him wrong.

* * *

 _ **The Watchtower**_

 _ **Council Chamber**_

It was usually only under serious circumstances that a closed meeting of the founders would be called.

So, needless to say, Diana of Themyscira was curious why Batman called yet another meeting and insisted on bringing their 'guest' to it. She and Shayera had just arrived back from Themyscira when Batman strongly requested they report to the Conference Room immediately. From the serious looks she could see on the faces of the other founders, it was obvious something bothered them.

Silence dominated the room except random humming or beeping of nearby computer consoles.

SLUUUUUUUUURRRRRRRRRP!

Their "guest" looked up at them as she finished draining the last of her mocha shake. "Oh," she giggled, "sorry." Everyone glared at the pink-haired young woman wearing goggles and she frowned. "What? I said I was sorry...jeez, tough room."

"Young lady, do you even know why you're here?" Green Lantern asked. Diana resisted the urge to smile because she see that John Stewart was trying to sound intimidating and it usually worked. Unfortunately, for John, it only seemed to annoy their guest.

The young woman called Zoe blinked a couple times and drummed her fingers on the table for a couple seconds before answering. "Um...no," she said. "I fell through a portal thingie, ran into Supergirl a few days later, and now I'm being talked down to by a angry black man in a black and green leotard suit with a chip on his shoulder." She ignored the shocked look on the faces of Green Lantern and Hawkgirl and turned to glance over at Batman instead. "And you...can you please aim the patented Batglare elsewhere? While it is scary, it's also very annoying."

There was a muffled snort and Diana could see Flash trying his best not to explode in laughter.

"Perhaps we should just cut to the chase," J'onn J'onnz said. "We know you are from an alternate Earth, and I can sense that you know who we are ."

Zoe rolled her eyes. "Well, duh, you're the Justice League...Earth's Mightiest Heroes...no wait...wrong group. But yeah, you're the Justice League, big time heroes, proud members of the spandex and cape set." She gave them a big toothy grin and two thumbs up. "Good for you, keep up the good work."

"Are you through?" Batman asked.

Zoe's smile faded and her expression become more serious. "Not really. I've got a whole bunch of smart-ass comments I'm fighting to hold back, but it's very hard."

"You don't think too highly of us, do you?" Diana asked. There was no anger or irritation in her voice, just curiosity. She had a sense that Zoe Kilmarten was not an enemy, but it was obvious that she wasn't taking the situation seriously.

 _No,_ Diana mentally corrected herself, _she's just not taking US seriously_.

"Let's just say that I wasn't a big fan of you people back home and leave it at that, okay?" Zoe replied.

"Then let me be blunt about it, then," J'onn said, giving her a tiny smile. "Never liked the comic books?"

Zoe's suddenly turned to look at J'onn, a shocked look on her face. "How did you...oh...wait, telepath...you went through my head."

"More like a surface scan when you were talking to Kara in the cafeteria," J'onn replied. "You might as well have been shouting it at me."

For a couple seconds, Zoe said nothing, a puzzled expression on her face. To Diana, it looked as if she were trying to make a decision. After a couple more seconds, she took a slow breath and let it out. "Okay, I'll save you the trouble...yes, you're comic book characters. My Dad still has his old comics and I've read most of them." She then glanced over at Flash. "For obvious reasons, my Dad was a fan of yours...him being a speedster and all. I think he might have patterned his costume a little after yours."

"Really?" Wally asked, a big goofy grin on his face that caused Diana to roll her eyes. "That's pretty cool!"

"But you're not Barry Allen, are you?" Zoe asked.

"Well no," Flash said, "I'm," he stopped when he saw Batman glaring at him and decided to change the subject. "Look, we have secret identities, but if we're comic book characters in your world, you would know who we are."

"Actually wasn't that big a fan, given the fact that we had real supers around. Then you had the cartoons...really bad cartoons from the seventies and early 80s. Oh, let's not forget the old, old, old, OLD television series from the 60s about Batman and Robin." Zoe smirked at Batman again. "Glare all you want...Mr. Wayne...but it doesn't change the fact that you were treated harshly. I mean, cheezy, campy television series, even cheezier animated versions, then you had the first two movies with that Keaton guy playing you which kicked ass and, from what I've seen, was the most accurate in your portrayal. But the other two movies after that...um...you don't wanna' know."

Diana managed to stifle the shocked gasp that threatened to come out as Zoe blurted out Batman's secret identity. She also noticed the alarmed looks on the faces of the others, but Batman managed to keep a cold and calculating look as he asked, "How much do you know?"

Zoe pointed at Batman. "Bruce Wayne," then she pointed at Superman, "and that's Clark Kent. And Clark, I really gotta' ask, is Lois really as dumb as a post, because, c'mon...glasses?"

"Hey now," Superman sounded a little offended at his lover being insulted like that, "I'm very convincing in my civilian guise."

"Yeah, if you say so." Zoe looked back at Flash again. "So are you Wally or Bart?"

"Bart? Who's Bart?"

"Okay, just as I thought. The comics aren't accurate compared to the real thing," Zoe seemed lost in thought again. "But that would mean that this is truly real; so does that mean my world is the imaginary one? Shit...this would make one hell of a story in itself."

"Young lady," J'onn said, clearing his throat again, "please try to focus."

The pink haired young woman shot the martian a look. "Hey, you're not the one displaced from their reality and trapped in a fictional world."

"No," Green Lantern said, "but we've experienced something like this before."

"Really?" Zoe seemed amused by that revelation. "What happened?"

This time, Green Lantern's stern facade faded as he looked down at the table for a moment. "They died...they were already dead, but they didn't know it yet."

Shayera reached over and put a hand on the man's shoulder as she looked at Zoe. "That world had a nuclear war, and a powerful psionic managed to warp reality in an attempt to 'undo' what had happened in that town, basically trapping himself and the survivors in some sort of pocket reality for fifty years."

Again, Zoe fell silent for a few seconds. "Damn," she finally said. "I can see now how that would be disconcerting, because now you're the imaginary heroes made real. But I doubt this is the work of some guy with reality warping powers. I did fall through a portal created by that weird gadget I gave you guys. So...you 'heroes'," she made quotation mark gestures with her fingers when she said the word "heroes", "figure it out, send me home, and we can all act like this never happened."

"Are you always this flippant?" Shayera asked, bristling at Zoe's apparent lack of respect.

Zoe shrugged. "Not really, but I'm a long way from home, and this is my way of dealing with it. Although, if you would prefer I'd have a nervous breakdown about this situation, I'm sure I could oblige you and whine a little...no...wait...not my style."

"Now see here," Green Lantern snapped, "we're trying to help you."

"Funny way of showing it," Zoe countered. "After all, you haven't let me out of this facility since you dragged me here yesterday, If I didn't know any better, I'd say you didn't trust me."

"Can you blame us?" Batman's tone wasn't hostile this time. Instead, he was being honest and upfront...and yet he still came off sounding intimidating. "After all, you know who we are and you have extensive knowledge of us. Some of it might be inaccurate, but you do know enough to pose a security risk."

Zoe laughed. "I pose a security risk? What, you think I'm going to blab your identities to the whole world or something?"

"The thought had crossed our minds," J'onn replied.

"Jeez," Zoe muttered, "and I thought David was paranoid." She shook her head again and returned her attention to Batman. "Look, all I want to do is get back home. If you guys can help with that, fine, do what you have to. If you can't, then I'm going to have to do something to make a place for myself here...which means hacking some networks, creating on identity, and...getting myself a job and established in this world." She stopped when she realized what she had just said and who she was talking to. "Oh, c'mon, people...don't look at me like I'm a criminal."

"Aren't you?" Diana wasn't sure, but she could have sworn she detected the faintest hint of humor in Batman's voice. "You did steal three hundred thousand from Lex Luthor."

"Please," Zoe snorted, "that's pocket change. So he won't be able to get that set of ivory back-scratchers for...well...another day. Big deal. As far as he's concerned, it was used to pay off somebody...that's why they call it 'discretionary spending'."

"And STAR Labs and Wayne Enterprises?"

"That was out of boredom and curiosity. By the way, about you're...um...IT expert, is she...you know...wheelchair bound?"

Batman's eyes narrowed and the menace returned to his voice. "Yes."

"Shit, sorry to hear that. Was it...HIM?"

"Yes."

Zoe's expression softened. "Seriously, I really am sorry to hear that. I know some other things about you, but I'm not sure how much of that information is accurate and I doubt you want to talk about it here." She then gave the Dark Knight an honest smile. "But we can talk about that later."

"We will," Batman assured her, the tone in his voice implying that they would indeed be talking whether Zoe wanted to or not. "But how about we trade information?" He tapped a couple keys on the panel in front of him and the image of two Arkham inmates materialized over the table. "Do you know these two men?"

This time, Zoe's mouth dropped open in surprise. "No...way," she finally said. "Those two are here?"

"Do you know them?" Batman asked again.

"Yeah, that's Bomber and Slapstick." Zoe leaned back in her chair, a shocked look on her face. "They're here too? But how? They weren't around when that device went off." She fell silent for a moment and it was obvious that she was thinking about something before the realization hit her. "There was another device, wasn't there?" she asked.

"Part of one," Superman replied. "But yours was the only one that was intact compared to what we salvaged in Gotham."

"Gotham," Zoe repeated, the shocked look becoming one of horror, "as in Gotham City? They ended up in Gotham City!?"

Flash seemed to cringe because the girl's voice became a high pitched shrill of terror. "Yeah," he said, "but you can relax, Bats caught them and threw them in Arkham."

The young woman's face paled and she leaned forward, putting her hands on the table as if to steady herself, and shook her head again. "No...no...no...no," she said softly.

"Zoe, what's wrong?" Flash asked.

Zoe ignored the scarlet speedster and glared at Batman. "Okay, let me get this straight." her voice had suddenly became laced with venom as she pointed at Batman, "you, the world's greatest detective, which means you are 'allegedly' one of the most intelligent men on the planet, and please note that I threw the word 'allegedly' in there because I am seriously questioning your intelligence for doing something completely stupid. You put those two in a facility where you keep your most dangerous and mentally unstable criminals."

"I don't see what the big deal is," Shayera said, glaring back at Zoe. "They're just two highly trained killers with regenerative abilities. Arkham can hold them, especially since it's been rebuilt."

"You really don't know who you're dealing with," Zoe muttered softly.

"Then enlighten us," J'onn said.

Zoe sighed, leaned back in her chair, and pointed at the holographic projection. "Bomber and Slapstick, also known as Jean-Paul Renard and Nicholas DeYorke, they're Elites in my world. In fact, they rank somewhere in the top five. They're very popular back home, particularly Bomber since he has a video blog called 'Bomber's Bay' that has him doing all sorts of crazy shit."

"And what do they do?"

"What does any mercenary do? They do things for money. Bomber tends to be more of a thief/extraction type...he's not a cold-blooded killer, but he has no problem killing in self-defense. Slapstick on the other hand..."

Zoe shrugged.

"I think he'd kill his own grandmother if you paid him. Hell, he's tried to kill Bomber a couple times, or so I hear. The other Elites hate them both."

"Why's that?" Diana asked, now curious about the kind of world this young woman and the two men in Arkham had come from.

"I think it's because the other Elites think Bomber and Slapstick don't take the job seriously. You see, Elites see themselves as the best of the best, the ultimate novas who fight and kill for the highest bidder. For them, it's all about reputation, money, and...to most...honor and professionalism. Bomber and Slapstick, they treat it like a joke and have no problem with humiliating the other Elites and poking fun at them."

"Haven't these other Elites tried to take these two down?" John Stewart asked.

"Yeah," Zoe replied. "And that's how they broke into the top ten. Quite a few of the upper level Elites did try to take them out and got killed, or worse, humiliated. But it doesn't stop the other Elites from starting a 'bounty fund' on them."

"Bounty Fund?"

"Yeah. Basically some Elites got together and started throwing money into a fund somewhere. It's mostly made up of people who hate Bomber and Slapstick, which is just about most of the Elites and a few other non-elite novas that they pissed off at some point. Last I heard, it was up to ten million...whoever kills Bomber and Slapstick gets the cash."

"So what you're saying is that we have two psychotic assassins locked up in Arkham," Flash said. "Well, maybe that's where they should be."

"You don't get it," Zoe snapped. "These two will take it as a challenge." She turned back to Batman again. "And no offense, Batman. You may be a badass and know a gazillion martial art forms, but I doubt you could have taken these two down if they were at the top of their game."

"I agree." Batman's response shocked everyone, including Zoe. "However, both men were still apparently recovering from their fight with the cartel teams on the waterfront." A bemused expression crossed his face as he continued. "They thought I was some cosplayer pretending to be me. After talking to you, everything sort of makes sense."

"Sort of?" repeated Superman. "Care to elaborate on that."

"Zoe, what year is it in your world?" Batman asked.

"2007, it's February."

"It's 2006 in the middle of June here."

"Okay, so she's from an alternate reality and time is slightly off there," Flash said, "so what's the big deal?"

"Clark, how long have we been active?" Batman asked.

"On average, I'd say it's been about ten years, almost twelve for me, and a little over three years for the League," Superman replied, then he nodded as he realized what Batman was getting at and looked at Zoe. "You said that there were cartoons of us from the seventies and 80s...I was still a kid back then."

"As was I," Batman said.

"No," Flash said, shaking his head, "I doubt that, Bats, I don't think you were ever a kid."

"And you still are," Batman fired back, the barest hint of a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth, before fading as he looked back to Zoe. "How far back do we exactly go, Miss Kilmarten?"

"Not sure, exactly," Zoe answered. "But my Dad says that Superman comics were coming out since around World War Two...way before my time." She then gestured to everyone at the table. "In fact all of you showed up in the comics and cartoons at one point, but everything came crashing down in 1998 when Galatea happened."

The mention of Galatea had everyone's attention now, particularly Superman's. "Galatea?" There was a silent rage in the man of steel's voice as as he spoke the word. "What did Galatea do in your world?"

Zoe gave him a confused look. "Um, it exploded?"

"It?" Batman asked.

"Yeah, it was some sort of orbital space station sponsored by various UN countries, though David suspects it was something more. And given what happened after the station exploded, he might be right."

"And what did happen, exactly?"

Zoe shrugged again as if it was no big deal. "Its radioactive payload got sucked into and throughout Earth's jetstream. Hours after that event, novas...er...more super humans began manifesting powers around the world."

"Is that how you got your powers?" Flash asked.

Zoe giggled and shook her head. "No, I got them from my parents. Like I said, Dad was a super speedster and Mom had electrical powers." Then she laughed aloud as she seemed to remember something. "I gotta' tell ya, finding out what they looked like back in the 'golden days' when supers were running around was kind of hilarious. Now I have blackmail material to use against Mom. Though I have to admit seeing Dad with hair was kind of weird."

"Um, Zoe?"

"Yeah, Flash."

"You're losing focus again."

"Oh, yeah, where were we?"

"You said Galatea was a space station that exploded and people suddenly began manifesting superpowers," Shayera replied.

"But you had supers already, did you not?" J'onn asked.

"Yes, but," Zoe looked down at the table. "A lot of them were killed during the ban."

"What happened?" Diana kept her tone soft when she asked the question. It was obvious that this was a painful subject for the pink haired girl. "Did your governments do this?"

"No," Zoe replied. "It was just one guy, but it's all connected and kind of a long story." She then looked back up at them. "And when I say very long, I'm talking 'Extended Director's Cut Version of an already ridiculously long movie' kind of long. I'm also not sure I can give you the most accurate version."

For a few seconds, no one spoke until Batman finally broke the silence. "Well," he said, "I don't have any plans for an hour or two and I doubt we'll be going anywhere."

"Are you sure you want to hear it? You won't like it, especially when you realize how different my world is from yours."

After seeing nods from all seven founders of the League, Zoe Kilmarten took a deep breath and slowly let it out before saying, "It started out with some idiot hero trying to prevent a suicide."

Then she proceeded to give them the history of events in her world that led to "The Ban", the deaths of several "retired" supers at the hands of Syndrome during that time, and the re-emergence of the super-powered community after the Galatea incident.

* * *

 _ **Arkham Asylum**_

 _ **ISO-Wing**_

"THIS ISN'T REAL, DAMMIT! NONE OF THIS IS FUCKING REAL!"

Nicholas DeYorke, also known as the nova assassin (and four-time ball room dancing champion in upper New York State) called Slapstick, shook his head as he looked though the bars of his cell and into another cell where the other inmate was throwing a crazy tantrum. He had to admit, he kind enjoyed the show.

"NONE OF THIS IS REAL! THE BATMAN ISN'T REAL!"

"Okay, for a guy who isn't real, he certainly kicked the shit out of us," Nick said before yawning.

Jean-Paul Renard, otherwise known as the nova mercenary called Bomber, grasped the bars of his cells and glared at Nick. "NO! THIS IS ALL A DREAM!" he screamed. "A BAD DREAM CAUSED BY...BY...by..." He shook his head and the crazy expression on his face disappeared as he looked up and down walkway. "Okay, looks like we're the only inmates in this block and the guards have left the area. I count about ten cameras. What do you got?"

"I came up with ten as well. I'm willing to bet the guards got bored of your ranting lunatic routine after the last twelve hours. From what I can tell, they're not wired for sound, but I could be wrong."

"True," Jean chuckled, "but if this is truly Arkham, you know the people who built this place probably cut corners." He shook his head again and broke out in full laughter. "I can't believe it, we're actually in a reality based off a shitty series of comic books."

"And even shittier cartoons and crappy movies," Nick added. "Although, this world does seem a little more realistic and not like a Joel Schumacher wet dream."

"That's good," Jean muttered, "if a Robin showed up sputtering 'Holy'-this or 'Holy'-that, I would have to fucking disembowel him."

"Get in line, pal. Remember, I'm the psychotic killer of the duo."

"I'll plead reasonable insanity as a defense."

"I don't think you can claim that in court, Jean."

Jean stepped back from the bars of his cell and sat down on the bed. "Any idea how this is possible?" he asked.

Nick shook his head. "Not sure, buddy. This could be some fucked up hallucination, but it feels pretty real. I'm still expecting Rod Serling from the old Twilight Zone series to suddenly show up and start talking about two displaced men trapped in an impossible reality...but I don't think that's going to happen." He then flopped down on the bed in his cell. "So, tell me, Jean, what's the plan? I'm sure we could bust out of here."

"Oh, we can," Jean said, "but I'm thinking about how we got here and what it means."

"Aw, shit not this again," Nick groaned as he sat up on his bed. "You're still going on about this being my fault?"

"No, I've accepted that this is your fault because it was your katana that sliced through that guy's arm thing and activated that portal." Jean held up his hand as Nick was about to say something. "Hear me out on this. Yes, your katana activated that device. Those guys were apparently some sort of team, they came through a portal into our world. I'm thinking that they came from this world."

"Whoa...hold on...you're telling me that you believe, and I just want to make sure I'm following your line of thought, that those guys came from here, a fictional world, and invaded our world? You know how fucked up that sounds?"

"It's been done before in various works of fiction, mostly."

"Yeah, most notably in some fucked up fanfics on the internet."

"Hey, they've made movies and written books about this type of stuff...wait," Jean's eyes narrowed as he realized what Nick had said. "Dude, seriously? You read fanfiction on the internet?"

"Hey, don't judge me!"

"Okay, okay," Jean snickered. "I guess we all have our vices."

"Cirque Du Solei," Nick growled back.

"Ouch...okay, point made. But seriously, think about it. Let's say this world is real and those guys came from this world into ours, but it wasn't an invasion. It was more like a recon team given how many of them there were."

Nick shook his head again. "No," he said. "If they were doing recon, they wouldn't have come in guns blazing and they weren't prepared to face off against us. I'm guessing it was diversion...show up, cause some damage, then get the fuck out. They weren't expecting us and we fucked things up by fighting back. And now we're here."

"Yep. So, assuming I'm right and this is the world they came from, that means they must have had some agency backing them. Think about it, they were wearing light body armor, they moved like a trained unit, and somebody had to give them the high-tech gizmo that allowed them to jump worlds, right?"

The imaginary light bulb in Nick's head as he realized what Jean had done. "And that's why you were acting crazy, ranting loudly about this place not being real, especially during those recording sessions."

"Yep," Jean gave his best friend/enemy a big grin. "I'm willing to bet certain interested parties have access to those videos. One of those is obviously Dark Rodent Guy, but I'm guessing whoever had those guys show up in our world probably have enough pull and influence to get a copy of those videos. They'll probably want to know what happened to their team, and they'll probably send someone here to deal with us."

"Okay, that's an interesting, if not fucked up theory," Nick conceded. "But why the diversion? What were they doing?"

"That's what bothers me, Nick," Jean replied, his grin fading away to mild concern. "If they were a diversion, that must mean there was another team, or worse, multiple teams. I think this is part of something bigger and we, in our usual style, got sucked into it."

Nick thought about that for a moment, then he let out a soft wicked chuckle. "Well, Mr. Renard," he said, "I guess that means we just have to wait."

"Yep. I figure it'll be less than twenty-four more hours before someone tries to deal with us."

"That long?"

"Could be less than that, but it doesn't matter." The smile returned to Jean's face, accompanied by a malicious gleam in his eye. "We take them out, find out who they're working for, then we go after whoever was responsible for this."

* * *

 _ **The Daily Planet**_

 _ **Metropolis, Delaware**_

Jimmy Olsen, otherwise known as "Superman's Pal", formerly a "cub reporter", part time photographer, part time college student, part tech support, and blogger for the Daily Planet finished up his latest blog about Lex Luthor's presidential bid and his attempt to rally the 'youth vote'. Having dealt with Luthor personally, it took a lot of effort for Jimmy to keep the tone of his blog not too overly biased. It took even more effort to keep profanity out of his blog, but he managed to succeed and even got the piece done with a few hours to spare before the deadline. A couple key taps on his computer saved a copy which he attached to an e-mail for Perry White. He tapped the "Send" button on his monitor and stifled a yawn as he stretched out in his chair.

"Well look at you," he heard someone say. "Superman's 'pal' lounging away and getting paid to slack off."

Jimmy turned to see a young man a couple years younger than him standing there wearing a pizza delivery uniform, a smug grin on his face. Jimmy suddenly tensed up when he recognized his cousin and groaned. "Ted, what the hell are you doing here? No...wait...let me guess, you and your little crew of misfits got in trouble breaking and entering."

Ted merely smiled and shook his head. "There's no proof, we have alibis, and we're under the radar."

"What makes you think I won't turn you in?" Jimmy asked. "And how the hell did you get in here?"

"Well," Ted chuckled. "There is that family thing we have and you know that I tend to keep my crew low key."

"For now," Jimmy snapped. "But you and your crew are going to move to bigger things and then you'll get caught by Superman. When that happens, even your father's money or your trust fund won't be able to help you."

Ted shook his head. "Really, Jimmy, you're still hitting at me for having money...that doesn't sound like you." He set the box on the table and took off the baseball cap with the Galiano's Pizza logo on it. "As for how I got in," he said as he twirled the cap on his finger, "you people at the Planet have a nasty habit of ordering from Galiano's several times almost every day. They see one delivery guy, they've seen them all; they didn't even hesitate to buzz me in. As for the pizza, I figured you might be hungry."

"Did you steal it?"

"What? No, please, give me credit," scoffed Ted. "I paid for the pizza and I've had the uniform for the last year after I applied. Got fired a couple weeks later, but I only applied there and a few other places, just to get the uniforms. You never know when you need to become 'invisible' and some high-school aged delivery guy is usually dismissed."

Despite himself, Jimmy couldn't help smiling as he shook his head. "You are being wasted as a wannabe thug and criminal," he said before reaching for the box. "What is it?"

"You're favorite, double pepperoni, roasted red peppers, sausage, and bacon."

Jimmy opened the box and closed his eyes for a moment, taking in the aroma of the pizza. "Damn, I could feel my arteries hardening right now." Then he opened his eyes, giving his cousin a suspicious look. "Okay, you didn't just come in to say 'hi', and you're bringing me what is obviously a bribe. What do you want?"

Ted pulled up a chair so he could sit next to Jimmy and lowered his voice. "I need some information from you."

"Like what?"

"I know you're friends with Clark Kent, Lois Lane, and Big Blue...so...do you know anything about what happened in Centennial Park a few days ago?"

The mention of Centennial Park has something tickling the back of Jimmy's mind, why did that sound familiar. Then it hit him. "According to witnesses, they said they saw what appeared to be some weird energy burst over the park somewhere," he stopped when he remembered something else. "They also found some punk out there wrapped up in duct tape. From what I recall, he was one of your fellow students at your high school."

"He was," Ted sad. "But after some bad choice of words, he pissed off someone and, honestly, he had it coming. I'm just glad she didn't use her super-speed when she kicked him in the crotch after taping him up."

"Super-speed? Wait," Jimmy's eyes widened in realization. "You were there?"

"Yep," Ted said. "And from what I've seen in the paper the last few days, she's been busy. Stopping robberies, though she's been lifting the wallets of the criminals she's stopped...gotta' love the irony there."

"Her? You've met his person."

"Yeah, took my crew down and beat the hell out of Ace when he made some lewd comments. Took Chance's computer, but I found it on my doorstep the following day along with a thank you note."

For moment, Jimmy thought his cousin was leading him on, but he immediately dismissed that thought. Ted was a lot of things, but he wouldn't come into The Planet with some crazy made up story. If anything, Ted was here to see if Jimmy or anyone else here knew anything. "Why are you curious, Iceman?" he asked. "Looking to recruit her?"

Ted flinched at the nickname. "Please don't call me that, Jimmy. You're one of the few relatives who is always blunt and honest with me. And no, I'm not looking to recruit her, I'm just curious."

"Why?"

Ted's expression became more solemn. "Because Chance sent me an article from the Gotham Gazette talking about that massacre involving that crime cartel."

"Yeah," Jimmy said. "The Red Cobra Triad/Zucco Crime Family connection. Lois is working the Red Cobra connection and Clark is in Gotham researching the Zuccos."

"Not really interested in that Jimmy," Ted said. "It's the comments made from some witnesses. Granted, most of them were drunks or junkies, but get this, guess what they said they saw?"

"I read those articles too, something about glowing 'portal' opening up over the waterfront...oh shit." Jimmy quickly logged back into his computer and pulled up the story from the Gazette. "Um, Ted, when did your encounter happen?"

"Four days ago, sometime in the early evening. Why?"

"That 'portal' in Gotham," he said, turning the monitor so Ted could get a better view of it. "It happened the same night, sometime later in the evening. Then that firefight broke out with the Zuccos and the Red Cobra's."

Ted pointed at part of the report on the screen. "It says here that only two survivors were found, supposedly after being stopped by Batman. Hmmm, curious."

"What?" Jimmy asked, noting that his cousin was lost in thought which usually didn't bode well because that meant the kid was scheming.

"Okay, I'm no reporter like you, Jimmy. I don't know how things work in the industry, but nothing was mentioned about these two guys other than the fact that they were apprehended by the police a couple blocks away and then carted off to Arkham."

"Okay, that's not different from similar situations in Gotham."

"Yeah, but tell me, after a few days, wouldn't there be more information about these two? Or more more information about Red Cobras or the Zucco's? You said your friend Clark Kent was covering this, I know he's a good reporter so it could be argued that he's not putting anything up until he has the full story. But it's the fact that-"

"It's the fact that no one else is reporting anything either," Jimmy said, realizing where Ted was going. "Aside from the initial reports from a few days ago, nothing else has been reported. "Why?"

"Not so much 'why', Jimmy, I think it's more of a 'who'. Someone is putting a lid on things. Did you know that some government agents were scouring the Gotham waterfront after the incident? I'm not talking the usual FBI guys, I'm talking military types. Something's going on."

"Why do you care?" Jimmy asked.

"Because I get the feeling I was at ground zero for something big happening, and, for once...I'm not bored."

"That's what this is all about for you," Jimmy accused. "The criminal activity, the breaking of rules, pissing off your father, sneaking into places like this...it's all for the thrill."

"Of course it is, Cuz," Ted laughed. "Well, that...and there is this hot pink haired girl involved."

Jimmy groaned and put his head in his hands. "Of course, there would be a hot girl involved."

"Olsen!" Jimmy looked over in the direction of the new voice and saw Perry White sticking his head out of his office. "I got something for you." He then ducked back into his office.

"Great," Jimmy muttered as he grabbed a slice of pizza out of the box, "he's probably going to make me rewrite my blog."

"Ah, the joys of having an honest job," Ted snickered.

Perry poked his head out of his office again. "Oh," the older man said, this time in a softer voice, "bring the pizza with you." He paused for a moment, then looked straight at Ted. "And you know what, bring your criminal cousin who likes to dress up and infiltrate buildings with you." He then ducked back into his office, leaving a shocked Jimmy and Ted standing there.

"C'mon, you two!" Perry shouted from his office. "I haven't got all day."

Thirty minutes later, both a stunned Jimmy Olsen and a Ted "Don't you dare call me Theodore" Morrison the Third walked out of Perry White's office. They both made their way back to Jimmy's desk and sat down, neither of them speaking for a couple minutes.

"Okay," Ted finally said. "What the hell just happened?"

"Um, you got a part time job here and I, somehow ended up being given a real assignment to cover the newly rebuilt Arkham facility. That's usually something Clark or Lois gets, I don't do the big stories."

"A job," Ted whined. "I didn't plan on getting one today."

"Well, you're good at getting into places, and all he wants you to do is take photos."

"Yeah...but...it's a job!"

Jimmy laughed and slapped his cousin on the shoulder. "Don't worry," he said, "it'll be fun. Besides, all I'm going to do is just talk to a Warden and get information about how 'more advanced and secure' the 'new' Arkham is."

"Unless something crazy happens," Ted said.

Jimmy shook his head. "Nah, it's during the daytime and I doubt anything too exciting will happen."

Little did Jimmy Olsen know, the craziest chapter of his life was about to begin.

* * *

 _ **The Watchtower**_

Three hours after their meeting with Zoe Kilmarten, Batman stood in one of the observation decks, looking down at planet Earth. He was certain the other founders of the League were doing the same, quietly contemplating and processing the information the young woman had given them. What Zoe Kilmarten had told them had not surprised Batman in the least, but it was the conversation they had after the young woman had left that bothered him.

* * *

" _So," Batman said as he looked out at the other six heroes," what do you think?"_

" _I think I speak for everyone one when I say that Zoe's world is messed up," Flash quipped. "It's hard to believe one lousy lawsuit led to the craziness that is her world."_

" _I don't think it was just that," Wonder Woman said. "It was just one of many circumstances that came together."_

" _Still, corporate sponsored heroes?" Flash shook his head and laughed. "And I thought me promoting Energy Bars were bad."_

" _I just wonder how much of that is the truth," Superman said._

" _From what I could tell, she was telling the truth, at least what she believes to be the truth," J'onn confirmed. "And that is bothersome enough."_

" _I don't see what the problem is," Flash said. "Yeah, it's messed up, but it's their world."_

" _Maybe so, but I'm concerned about this 'Project Utopia' and 'Team Tomorrow' the young woman mentioned," Green Lantern said._

" _What about them? Zoe seems to think they're, and I'm quoting her, 'egotistical and clueless' douchebags. I could understand now why she doesn't think highly of us."_

" _She's young, Wally."_

" _So what's that got to do with it?"_

 _John Stewart shook his head and sighed. "Of course she's going to look at organizations of authority and see them as a joke or something that can't be trusted. I'm sure that's not different from how you were when you were that age."_

" _Besides," added Hawkgirl, "I'm not sure she's exactly on the side of angels, given who her 'boyfriend' is and what he does for a living. He sounds like a teen version of Lex Luthor."_

" _Oh, c'mon! Really?"_

" _Son of a weapons designer who, by Zoe's own admission, was the man who murdered several supers over a decade and a half. She's also admitted that this 'David' has access to cutting edge technology."_

" _What are you saying, exactly, Shayera? That the apple doesn't fall far from the tree?"_

 _Shayera glared at Wally for a moment. "Where I come from, that tends to be the case most of the time."_

 _This time, all trace of humor was gone and Wally returned Shayera's glare. "Oh...so by that rationale, I guess that means you actually belong to a bunch of war-mongering invaders who want to wipe out the world just to obtain a strategic advantage and that maybe you want to finish the job they started."_

" _Hey!" Green Lantern snapped as he stood up out of his chair. "That was uncalled for."_

" _Maybe it was," Wally fired back. "But if Shayera's going to make snap judgments, she's going to face the same kind of comparison. Look, I know she's a little fast and loose with the morals, but this isn't Zoe's world."_

" _Maybe not," Superman said, "but this so called 'Buddy Pine', or Syndrome, killed over a hundred supers and this David Pine Flynn is his biological son who runs a tech company and is at odds with legally recognized organizations in their world."_

" _And the fact that she freely admitted that should tell you something," Wally said. "Did you also miss out on the fact that you have some group called Project Utopia, a PRIVATE organization, being given a permanent member position on the UN security council? How about the fact that same PRIVATE organization also has half the UN nations in their pocket and also controls the so called 'hero' team that is their equivalent of us? From what I understand, it also sounds like this "Utopia" has politicians from just about EVERY country on their payroll. Is it just me, or does this sound like a certain group we have here on our own world?"_

" _While I admit there are some similarities to CADMUS," Supeman conceded, "I don't think it's the same. Keep in mind that we're only seeing one side of the story."_

" _It's not the same." Everyone looked over in Batman's direction._

" _Bruce?"_

" _It's not the same," Batman repeated. "These people are more entrenched than CADMUS is. Unlike CADMUS, this Project Utopia has international backing and isn't hiding in the shadows of one government bureaucracy."_

" _Whoa," Wally said. "Bats, you actually agree with me."_

" _Not entirely," Batman replied. "I have no doubt that this Project Utopia has done good for the world and even Miss Kilmarten admitted that, but I also think she's telling the truth when she says that they aren't the benevolent organization they claim to be. However, if CADMUS was exploring this world, they would probably be looking at Utopia and even David Flynn's company. In fact, I'm willing to bet CADMUS probably learned of David Flynn while researching Utopia."_

" _What makes you say that?" Diana asked._

" _Fact, Zoe had made it clear that David Pine Flynn is no fan of Utopia. Fact, this David Pine Flynn is the son of a man who murdered over one hundred supers in a little over a decade. Fact, this David Pine Flynn is a technological genius, perhaps even more than his father. Take all those facts and look at them from CADMUS' perspective."_

" _By the gods," Diana muttered softly as she realized what Bruce was saying. "CADMUS is looking for ways to meet us on the battlefield, claiming it's in case we 'go rogue' like the Justice Lords did. You believe they were looking for weapons to use against us."_

" _Or looking for someone who could make weapons to use against us."_

" _C'mon, man, that's crazy," Green Lantern replied._

" _Is it? Think about it, Zoe Kilmarten claimed that area she was in was attacked by what sounds like a small group of soldiers and they had one of those devices with them. Those two men in Arkham show up near where we found the remains of another device and Kilmarten acknowledges those two are from her world. I'm guessing at least two teams were involved in whatever operation CADMUS was handling, and I wouldn't be surprised if there were more."_

" _If that's the case, how come we haven't seen any other 'portal' events happen?" Hawkgirl asked._

" _My guess is that these two incidents were the results of operations not panning out. Zoe told us that she believed the team that attacked were not there for her, but were focusing on causing damage and were surprised to encounter her. I'm guessing that's what happened with Renard and DeYorke, the team they ran into weren't expecting to run into opposition. In both situations, the portal devices got activated, bringing them to our world."_

" _Okay, do you know how crazy that sounds?" Shayera asked._

" _Any crazier than being dragged into a fictional world?"_

" _But we're real!"_

* * *

The sound of footsteps brought Batman back to the present. "Clark," he said in greeting before turning around to face Superman. "Something on your mind?"

"A lot actually," Superman replied. "I'm surprised that you opposed Shayera and John's proposal to possibly going to that world and trying to sort things out before it gets out of hand."

"First off, we don't even know how to get to that particular world," Batman said. "We may have the device, but its power source is depleted and the settings are wiped. We can replace the power source, but we have no calibration settings for it."

"But that's not what's bothering you, is it?"

Instead of answering, Batman simply stared at him, eyes narrowing.

"I know you too well, Bruce," Superman chuckled. "Something is bothering you and it's not just the idea of going over there."

"You're right," Batman admitted. "Going over there to 'set things right' sounds too much like something the Justice Lords would do."

"C'mon, Bruce, you know we wouldn't do that."

"Maybe not, but keep in mind that we're fictional characters to people in that reality. They may not take us seriously, and some might even attack us. I don't think I need to tell you how easily things could spin out of control."

"Okay, I see your point, but there's something else going on, isn't there?"

"What do you mean?"

"From what you've told me, those two men in Arkham had regenerative abilities and could have taken you down, but they surrendered the moment the police showed up. They got thrown into Arkham, but they haven't tried to escape yet."

"No, and that's what bothers me. I suspect they are waiting for the same thing I've been waiting for since I had Gordon send them there."

"Wait a second, you had Gordon put them in Arkham? What for?"

"Because I want to see who shows up to collect them. The one called Bomber made a big show about screaming how we were 'not real'. Aside from myself, guess who else hacked into Arkham and helped themselves to all video footage of those two men?"

"CADMUS."

Batman gave his friend a tiny smile. "Sometimes, shadowy government agencies are predictable especially when they panic about being found out. They make mistakes. My guess is Waller is currently debating whether she should send some people in to extract these two or just kill them."

"And you think those two are waiting for something like that to happen." Superman shook his head and rubbed the bridge of his nose with a thumb and forefinger. "Dammit, Bruce, you know I hate these kind of 'guessing' games where everyone tries to out think each other. It gives me a headache."

"Which is why that is my job, not yours."

"Good lord, Bruce, did you just make a funny quip?"

"It was an observation, nothing more."

Superman laughed for a moment, then he became serious as he reached down and pulled a small device off the belt on his costume. "Unfortunately, I think I might be picking up some of your uglier habits," he said while handing the device to Batman.

This caused Batman to arch an eyebrow as he took the device. "This looks like one of your Krytonian data units," he said.

"It is," Superman said. "I had given it to Kara earlier before she showed Zoe around. She didn't like the idea, but she knew it had to be done. So when she took Zoe's phone to look at the pictures..."

The corner of Batman's mouth twitched again, giving the hint of another smile. "She ghosted the data on Zoe Kilmarten's phone."

"Unlike that security card, her phone doesn't have that kind of protection. It's mostly encryption and code locked."

"Something that Oracle can crack," Batman said. "You're right Clark, you are picking up some of my habits." He then proceeded to walk towards the Command Center and the teleportation pad. Just as he cleared the doorway to the observation deck, he glanced back over his shoulder, this time giving the Man of Steel a real smile.

"I guess there's hope for you yet."


	9. Portents of Things to Come

Disclaimer: Justice League Unlimited owned by Warner Brothers/DC. Aberrant, owned by Onyx Publishing (not sure if White Wolf still owns anything to it anymore), and Incredibles (although only one character from there is in this fic) is owned by Pixar/Brad Bird.

Author's Notes: Another edit/revision/repost chapter because...damn, there were a lot of typos in this chapter.

SPOILER ALERT: (For some of you)

And for those of you who have not read "D&I" (or, understandably, don't want to read a loooong story), I will tell you right now that Jay Robertson is Jack Parr from my fic. However, when he got blasted through the portal and into the JLU's world, he ended up seventy years in their past.

END OF SPOILER

* * *

 _ **Memorial Hill Cemetery**_

 _ **Coast City, California**_

Though she wasn't there in any official capacity as a representative from Themyscira or the Justice League, Diana was certain that some people recognized her despite the fact that she was wearing normal clothes. Even though she was wearing a dark blue skirt, a blouse, and an overcoat, she knew that her appearance was unmistakable, especially to some of the government officials attending the funeral at Memorial Hill Cemetery in Coast City.

"And so, we bid farewell, to Steve Trevor," the minister continued. "A good man, soldier, friend, and father. He may be gone, but never forgotten, and his soul lives on in each and every one of us that knew him."

Diana tried not to focus on the words so much as she was focusing on the young man seemingly in his early twenties who stood there as a lone soldier performed "Taps" on a trumpet while seven other soldiers fired three shots each for the ceremonial twenty-one gun salute. She watched as two other soldiers carefully folded the American flag that had been draped across the coffin before handing it to Jay Robertson. Jay nodded at the Marine who handed him the now folded flag before bowing his head while the minister offered one final prayer. Even Diana had a hard time holding back tears as she watched the coffin being slowly lowered into the ground.

"A good ceremony," someone next to her said. "I have to hand it to these mortals, they certainly know how to give their honorable warriors a good send-off." Diana turned her head and saw a blond haired main with short cropped hair standing there wearing an expensive overcoat. "Ares," she hissed, "you shouldn't be here."

"Careful, Princess," the Greek god of war chided. "Don't make a scene. Besides, I'm only here to talk."

 _Somehow I find that hard to believe,_ Diana thought. She barely managed to stifle the growl at the base of her throat when Ares, in gentlemanly fashion, offered her his arm.

"Walk with me, Diana," he said softly, though there was no warmth in his voice when he spoke, "We have many things to discuss."

Reluctantly, but not wanting to cause a scene, Diana took his arm. "Why are you here, Ares?" she asked quietly as she walked along with the rest of the procession as they paid their last respects to the now lowered coffin.

Ares didn't answer right away; instead, he went along with the others. Diana took a moment to drop a single white rose on the coffin, but was surprised when Ares reached into his own coat and pulled out a dagger that would have been carried by a soldier from ancient Greece or Rome. He gently tossed the dagger into the grave, where it came to rest alongside Diana's rose.

"A true warrior should never go into the unknown unarmed," Ares said in response to the questioning look Diana gave him. And, for a moment, Diana saw something else other than cold and driven purpose on the face of the god of war. "And your friend truly was a warrior, Diana. He made his ancestors proud and I will always remember his accomplishments in his battles."

The two continued through the cemetery, breaking away from the main group and walking among the graves of various other soldiers who were buried in this cemetery. "I am a monster, Princess Diana," Ares said as Diana removed her arm from his. "I have to be, being the embodiment of war and everything that it is made of. Though, I have to admit, the mortals have been doing quite nicely on their own without too much prodding from me. Oh, I might have to nudge someone here and there once in awhile, but that's for shits and grins."

"Like unleashing the Annihilator on them?" Diana snapped.

"Well, it seemed like a good idea at the time." Ares grinned sheepishly. "Wasn't too thrilled about some idiot mortal using it to trash Tartarus and bring about the end of the world."

"Isn't that what you want?"

Ares shook his head and chuckled. "No, of course not. Yes, I want mass destruction and bloodshed, but I can't have it constantly if I end up wiping out the entire planet." Then he let out a sigh. "Sadly, as I said before, these mortals are doing a pretty good job on their own. There is a group of humans in particular that have gotten even Zeus rattled, especially in regards to recent events. You've probably heard of them...a certain little group calling themselves CADMUS."

Diana felt her breath catch in her throat. If Ares and the other gods were worried about CADMUS, then recent events more dire than even she or other members of the League suspected. "What do you know?" she finally asked.

"I can't tell you everything, Diana, you know that. But I can tell you that those foolish mortals have gone places they shouldn't have gone, brought back things that didn't belong to them, and it has shaken this plane of existence to its core...its past, present, and future...all of it is in jeopardy because of some paranoid and power hungry mortals want to play with gods." Ares held up a hand and a glowing sphere of energy appeared over his palm, hovering there and displaying images of three individuals that Diana recognized. "You know of those three," Ares continued, "one with the power of Hermes and the others who are like Achilles and Hercules."

"The young woman is known as Zoe, and she's a guest at the Watchtower," Diana said. "The other two are currently detained at a high security facility."

Ares smirked at her. "Really?" he asked. "Somehow I doubt they'll be there very long, but they will be the least of your worries."

Diana's eyes narrowed in suspicion. "What are you trying to tell me, Ares?"

"They have something, Diana, something that will make Pandora's box look like a child's play toy if they unleash it."

"What do they have?"

"No so much of a 'what', Princess, it's more about 'who' they have. And if they succeed in pushing him to the breaking point..." The god of war shrugged. "Well, I suppose, if there is a world left when he's done, it could be like the good old days. Unfortunately, I have kind of grown fond of this current age, it took thousands of years for Italy to come up with a decent cappuccino, it would be a pity to see it get wiped out."

"It won't happen," Diana said, looking the god straight in the eye. "We won't let it happen."

"Brave words, Princess," Ares chuckled. "But I don't think you realize how outclassed you and your little band of heroes really are." He then looked past Diana. "Speaking of which...here comes yet another recently revealed piece on the board."

Diana followed his gaze and turned to see Jay Robertson approaching. "What do you mean by that?" she asked as she turned back to reface Ares only to find him gone. "And, of course," she muttered under her breath, "you would take that moment to vanish."

"Diana," Jay said in greeting as he reached where she was standing. "Thank you for coming." He offered his hand to her, and she shook it for a moment before pulling him into a brief hug.

"It was an honor," she said.

Jay nodded and glanced around for a moment. "I thought I saw you here with someone, a friend of yours?"

"Not exactly," Diana replied. "A representative from Greece." It wasn't exactly a lie, but Diana could imagine Bruce smirking at her hastily made comment. "He paid his respects, but had other matters to attend to and couldn't stay long."

The young man nodded, accepting her comment at face value. "Well, we're having a small gathering at the house," he said, giving her a tiny smile. "You're welcome to attend, if you wish. You might even run into a couple old friends."

"I would love to," she said. "But I need to check in with the League first."

"Understandable, I'll see you there then." He turned to walk away, but stopped and looked over his shoulder. "Um, not to bring up a touchy subject, but have you read the journal yet?"

Diana shook her head. "Sadly, no," she replied. "There was an emergency at Themyscira that had to be dealt with and we've had to host a very unusual guest."

"Oh?" Jay's smile grew bigger. "Let me guess, some crazy alien acting like a college kid on spring break?"

Diana couldn't help laughing at that. "No," she said. "Just a visitor from another dimension. She's a speedster like Flash, drinks a lot of coffee, and has managed to drive some members up a wall. We've agreed to let her have access to Earth, but not without a chaperone or two."

"Does this little terror have a name?" Jay asked.

"You can't miss her," Diana said as she started to follow Jay down the hillside and towards the waiting vehicles. "A young woman with pink hair named Zoe. Flash and Supergirl have been assigned to her."

Jay suddenly stopped in his tracks and whirled around so fast that Diana almost ran into him. "What...did you say?" he asked, a shocked look on his face which started to lose some color.

"Jay, are you alright?" Diana asked.

"Zoe," Jay said softly, his voice barely more than a whisper. "Pink hair, a speedster, and you said she was from another dimension?"

"Yes."

"Did she have a surname? Was it...Kilmarten?"

"Yes," Diana said, then watched as the young man leaned on a nearby tombstone before dropping down to one knee. "Jay, are you alright?"

"How long?" he asked.

"What?"

"How long has she been here?"

"Less than a week," Diana replied. "What's wrong?"

"Less than a week," the young man repeated, looking up at her. Then he began to chuckle softly before looking up in the heavens. "Oh, you really know how to mess with me, don't you?" he said.

"Sorry...what?"

Jay shook his head as he stood back up. "Oh, it's not you, Diana," he said. "It's the universe I'm really pissed off at right now." He reached up and gently placed his hands on her shoulders. "Listen carefully to me, Diana. You really need to read that journal. Bring it with you to the house, we have a lot to talk about."

"Fine," Diana said as the young man started to walk away again. "But can you please tell me what the hell is going on?"

Jay turned to look at her again, and Diana could see his eyes glowing slightly. "I'm not entirely sure, Princess," he said, "but if that young woman you have in your custody is who I think she is, then there might be a chance."

"A chance?" Diana asked. "A chance for what?"

The glow faded from the young man's eyes. When he spoke, there was a slight tremble in his voice. "Home," he said softly. "A chance to finally go home..."


	10. Plotting and Planning in Hell

Disclaimer: Justice League Unlimited, owned by DC/Warner Brothers. Aberrant, owned by White Wolf and/or Onyx Publishing.

Author's Notes: Okay, this chapter didn't come out like I wanted it to, but it seemed to flow together and I didn't want to bog things down. The "Ace" character in this chapter is the girl from the Justice League episodes "Wild Cards" and "Epilogue". Call me sappy and pathetic, but I felt really sorry for this girl and what was done to her in that series. So...hopefully, this fic will do her some justice and...maybe she might get a better ending...or I could make things worse for her. As it is, events have already fouled up the JLU continuity in this fic. Oh...and for those DC fanatics out there, yes...a certain villain/armor construct is going to show up in this story...but don't expect it to be like the character in the comics (kind of like the way Galatea and Doomsday differed from their comic versions). Then again, I doubt many of you even know or remember Monarch.

As usual, reviews and threats are welcome, but ten page spamming will not be tolerated.

Also, the 300-400 megawatt reference...basically googled that and found out that 400 megawatt reactor is something that can power an aircraft carrier or a small city.

* * *

 _"The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist..."_

-Kevin Spacey, "The Usual Suspects"

* * *

 _ **CADMUS Headquarters**_

 _ **Santa Fe, New Mexico**_

Waller resisted the urge to roll her eyes as she looked down from the observation room overlooking Research Lab 42 where various scientists and lab techs scurried about like ants on a sugar high. Located on Sub-Level 12, the "room" was about the size of a medium sized airplane hangar filled with various workstations where teams of specialists would be working on classified projects. Sometimes, there would be multiple teams working on sparate projects, but not this time.

This time, the entirety of Lab 42 was dedicated to the pair of high-tech gauntlets that were sitting in an enclosed chamber where one lab worker wearing a protective suit was using a data pad to record energy readings. Amanda could see the excitement on all their faces as they talked in hushed voices about these gauntlets being "the find of the century".

 _Not so much a 'find',_ she thought to herself. _But more of an acquisition, but who cares? We have them AND the little bastard that made them._

She turned around to face the middle-aged gentleman standing in the room dressed in a white lab-coat, sporting a mustache, wearing black glasses, and holding a data pad of his own. "Okay, Hamilton, what is it that has your people so giddy?"

Doctor Emil Hamilton gave her a tiny smile. "I do apologize, Amanda, because I'm also a little 'giddy' at the latest developments,"" he said, tapping the data pad a couple times before handing it to Waller. "As you can see from theses results, the applications of this find can be limitless."

Amanda read through the data, thumbing through the notes, but it was the graphical data at the end that had her widening her eyes in surprise. "Is this for real?" she asked as she handed the datapad back to him.

"Very,"Hamilton replied, his smile getting bigger. "Those energy readings are from five minutes ago," he continued. "As you can see, power output coming from one those gauntlets averages between three hundred to four hundred megawatts, but there seems to be some sort of containment/dispersal process that is running at all times."

"That's good to know, and while this has limitless potential, it concerns me that these gauntlets are, for all intents and purposes, miniature nuclear reactors that could power a small city or Aircraft carrier and this punk was using them to simply toss Galatea around like a ragdoll."

Anger briefly flickered across Hamilton's face at the mention of what happened to Galatea, but it instantly faded before Amanda could question it. "Actually, it would take more power than that to do something like that to Galatea."

"Okay, so you're saying that something else was used?"

The scientist shook his head and the smile returned. "No, Amanda," he said. "What I'm saying is that he kicked more power through those gauntlets. The energy readings we're getting from them now...the 300/400 range is just the energy levels being kicked out while these gauntlets are 'idling'...like a car in neutral after it's been started."

Now _**that**_ got Amanda's undivided attention and explained why all the R &D techs were giddy with excitement. "Emil," she said softly, "close the door." She waited until Hamilton closed the door to the observation room and used a code to lock it before she continued. "Am I to understand that these things can kick out more power?"

"Yes, but I'm unsure how much more. We're not even sure what the material to construct them is made of, but a metallurgical analysis showed similarities to something we do have."

"And what might that be?" Amanda asked, possibilities of what they could use Flynn's technology for playing through her mind.

But it was Hamilton's response that shattered all those thoughts and sent a chill down her spine. "The Dark Heart," he said. This time, there was no smile on his face. The somber look made it clear that discovery bothered him.

And Amanda couldn't blame him. The alien weapon dubbed the "Dark Heart" still gave her (and she was certain it gave others) nightmares. In less than a day, that nanotech based threat nearly destroyed the world, but the Justice League managed to stop it. That event also revealed that the Justice League had an orbital weapon of mass destruction which was the only reason Waller agreed to let General Eiling and his people take components of the Dark Heart for research.

 _Thankfully, we've been unable to figure how the damn thing works and it's currently locked up. As much as we need whatever technology we can get to take on the Justice League, I don't want a weapon like that running around, especially if it's prone to turning on its creators._

Then another thought hit her when she realized what Hamilton had said. "Emil, you said material that made up those gauntlets was similar to the Dark Heart...you don't think it came from the same world, do you?"

Hamiltion shook his head. "No, Director, I don't think so," he assured her. "While it is apparent that this David Flynn has access to nanotechnology, it's nowhere near the complexity of what the Dark Heart produced, but there are sill some faint similarities." He tapped a couple more keys on his data pad again. "Although, given the power readings, and if we can get a look at the gauntlet schematics, we might be able to use Flynn's work for the Mobile Nano-Reactive Combat Hardsuit project."

Waller let out a small laugh. "Emil, Emil, Emil," she said, shaking her head. "I thought we agreed to give up on the battle-suit program."

"Well, the concepts are quite sound. The proto-type suit was completed. All the people involved were able to take Ivo's research notes, Luthor's hardware, and even some developments we made from studying the Dark Heart and the Annihilator, and we managed to make a functioning suit."

"Yes, and it took two steps before the power source burned out. Not only that, the cost alone to manufacture multiple suits would crash our country's economy." Then the realization hit her. "You think we can use the power source to Flynn's gauntlets."

"Yes," Hamiliton said as he reached up and adjusted the glasses on his face. "But we're having a hell of a time trying break the encryption coding on the control console on one of the gauntlets."

Amanda thought about it for a moment. If Hamilton was correct, Flynn's technology could be used to power up one of CADMUS' budget disasters and possibly add a new weapon to their arsenal. The only problem was to get Flynn to cooperate, but she had the sinking feeling the young man wasn't going to go along despite her threat.

 _But he doesn't know that his girlfriend somehow ended up in this world. Maybe I should change things up a little, rattle his cage._

"Okay, Hamilton," she said, coming to a decision. "Go ahead and reactivate the Monarch project, you have a week to get a team back together."

"Do you think you can get Flynn to assist us?"

Amanda gave him a predatory grin. "Don't worry, Emil, I think I can find a way to make our guest come around."

Hamilton nodded and then turned to leave. He had just finished punching in an access code to open the door when another thought occurred to him. "Director," he said, half turning to look over his shoulder, "About Galatea."

"What about her?"

"I'm aware that you've been using her in this operation and you have my support, but I do have some concern.?"

"What kind of concerns?"

The expression on the man's face softened. "I would suggest that you limit her interaction with our guest."

Now that was not something Amanda was expecting. "Why? She's done well so far."

"Yes, and she is one of our more successful endeavors." It was clear that Hamilton was trying to keep his tone professional, but Amanda could see the concern in his eyes.

 _You're letting your emotions get a hold of you, my friend,_ Amanda thought. _She is an asset, but you treat her like she's your daughter...this could be a problem._ "So what's the problem, Emil?" she asked.

"He scares her."

Amanda laughed again when she heard that. "Excuse me? Scares her, how?"

"She may not show it, but he nearly killed her. She's been having nightmares since that incident." Anger could be heard in the man's voice.

 _Oh yeah, Emil, you are too close to this. We might have to do something about that._

"I'm not sure what I can do about that, Emil," she said. "Galatea has only expressed anger and hatred at our guest. Though, from what I read in the reports, that's understandable. In fact, she insisted that she be kept on this project."

"I'm aware of that, Amanda," Hamilton admitted, "but there's something more."

"Are you sure you're not letting your personal attachment to the asset cloud your thinking?" Amanda asked, figuring it was best to be direct.

Emil stiffened at the mild rebuke. "No, Director," he replied straightening his posture a little. "But I am concerned about what could happen. Galatea is trying to prove herself, especially since the incident with Supergirl. But this David Flynn seems to anger her more than Supergirl did. And, from what I understand, this Mr. Flynn has already stated that he intends to kill her when he escapes."

Waller smirked at him. "Really, Emil? Do you really think that boy is capable of taking down Galatea and break out of the high security lockdown we have him under?"

"No, but keep in mind he did build those gauntlets," he countered. "I almost hate to think what he can do if we can't control his activities here."

"Let me worry about that, Emil," Amanda said. She then paused as she noticed someone standing in the hallway outside the door, waiting for Hamilton to exit. "Ah, Rick, come on in. Emil was just leaving."

Colonel Rick Flagg nodded at Hamilton as the man walkled by. "Director," he said as he walked into the room, "our intel has confirmed that those two men Batman had placed in Arkham are from that other Earth."

"I was afraid of that," Waller sighed. "It was kind of a big giveaway when one of them was ranting about our world not being real. Though I have to admit the satellite feed we got of them taking on Batman was interesting."

"I have already dispatched a team to Arkham and we're ready to extract or terminate them, ma'am."

Amanda considered the options and, for a moment, she almost chose the extraction but realized those two could cause problems. _No, better to just kill off the loose ends._ "Terminate them," she ordered. "Just try not to implicate us."

Flagg nodded and smiled at her. "Understood, ma'am. It's really too bad about Arkham, though."

"Why's that Rick?" Amanda asked.

"Because it's state of the art security and a newly rebuilt facility," Flagg replied, shaking his head. "Too bad the new facility's personnel weren't ready for a full-scale riot."

"Keep the casualties to a minimum, Rick."

"Yes, ma'am."

* * *

David stood in the middle of his new cell and studied it, mentally going though all the details.

 _Okay, let's see...fairly spacious compared to a jail cell. Fourteen feet by fourteen feet, one hundred ninety-six square feet total...the walls are about ten feet high and I'm closed in except for the vents. The cell material is some sort of reinforced plexiglass. The toilet and small shower stall in that corner along with the sink. My bed over there. And a single chair. And of course, I can be watched at all times because everything here is see through. Probably means someone enjoys watching me take a shit and shower...damn government pervs...it seems every universe has them._

He smirked as he looked out of his cell and at the dimly lit room surrounding the cell. It wasn't much different than the previous room that contained his previous cell except that it was much bigger, perhaps five times larger than his cell. He could see a couple computer terminals nearby and make out a few catwalks along the walls and above his cell. A quick mental link to the security network (which only took him four hours to completely break into) informed him that there were six guards in the room watching him.

 _Well, this is indeed interesting. My forty-eight hours isn't up yet, but Waller has moved me to a better cell. I suppose she thinks I'm going to "play ball"._

For a moment, he briefly considered just "breaking down" and pretending to go along, but he figured that Waller wouldn't buy it and probably try something.

 _No,_ he decided, _better to tell her to go fuck herself and then we'll see what trick she has up her sleeve to coerce me into "assisting" her little regime. But she's not the problem, that other damn AI is._

He had to admit that he was surprised when Lex Luthor walked into the room the previous day, but it was the artificial intelligence hiding in the subconscious recesses of Luthor's mind that got David's attention. He could sense Brainiac the moment Luthor walked right through the door. David actually found it amusing,in a twisted way, that he was meeting two allegedly fictional characters and one was completely clueless that he was the puppet of the other.

 _And Brainiac...he was shocked, not that I could blame him. I'm essentially an AI in a human shell and he wasn't expecting it. And Luthor...so full and arrogant of himself, he doesn't even realize I wasn't even talking to him._

He couldn't help laughing at that, noting that it caused a couple of guards to momentarily stop and look at him before resuming their duties which consisted mostly of them just walking around the room or on the catwalks and look intimidating.

"You find this amusing," a voice said softly, catching David off guard. He suddenly turned around in the direction of the voice, but stopped dead in his tracks when he saw the speaker, a young girl, perhaps thirteen or fourteen years old with short black hair and a haunted expression on her face, wearing a black jumpsuit.

 _Shit, where the hell did she come from? She wasn't there a couple seconds ago and she didn't come in through any of the entrances._

"But I did come in through one of the entrances," the girl said, the barest hint of a smile appearing on her face before disappearing. "I just didn't want you to see me."

"And you...are some sort of telepath," David said, rapidly putting everything together.

"Something like that." The girl looked around for a couple seconds before refocusing her attention on him. "And despite the situation you are in, you find it amusing."

"Yeah," David admitted, "I do...but I'm also scared shitless."

"You should be," the girl said, tilting her head to one side, "especially since I'm talking to you."

"And why is that?" David asked, slightly mimicking the girl's head movement.

The girl gave him a puzzled look. "You don't know who I am?" she asked.

David shook his head, trying to recall what little he knew of the DC world. He had never cared much for comics and had only seen two of the Batman movies. Then again, he didn't have a normal childhood like real humans did. "Um, sorry," he said. "And if you're a telepath, I assume that would be scary to most people. But I've dealt with telepaths before and you don't look scary at the moment."

"And what do I look like to you?"

David could feel a faint tingling at the back of his mind and random images flashed through his mind...memories of him in a holding tank, screaming to be let out, to be allowed to live. Then, just as quickly as they came, the memories faded. "I'm assuming that's you running through my brain," he said. "Did Waller send you?"

"Waller doesn't know I'm here," the girl said. She then gestured at the guards with one arm and David noticed they were all standing oddly still. "And they don't know I'm here either."

"Okay, I'm impressed," David said.

"And I ask you again, what do I look like to you?"

"Honestly, a scared girl...that's been turned into a weapon."

For a moment, the tingling in David's brain returned, but dissipated almost immediately as the girl gave him a sad smile. "And yet you don't know me," she said softly.

"No, but I know what it's like."

The girl smiled at him again. "You would know, wouldn't you?"

David returned the smile. "A little bit," he replied. "If you haven't been told, or gleaned it for yourself, my name is David Pine Flynn."

"I know."

"Oh, you do? Then you have me at a disadvantage." Then David grinned at her. "So tell me, she-who-is-meant-to-be-scary, do you have a name?"

The girl stared at him for a few seconds, then she did let out a soft giggle. "They call me Ace."

"Ace?" David repeated before shaking his head. "Um...no offense, but you don't look like an 'Ace'."

"It's the only name I've been called since I can remember, though I did remember reading my file once...I think my name was Alice or Allison."

"Damn," David muttered, "and I thought my childhood was messed up."

"I don't think either of us really had one, David."

"Got a point there. So...Ali, why are you here, exactly? I mean, you sneak in here, you're doing some sort of mental whammy on the guards, and you don't Waller to know. Why?"

"To meet you," the girl now identified as Ace answered. "Waller is going to try to break you, she'll probably use me to do it...and I will...but-"

"But you don't want to," David finished for her.

Ace shook her head. "But I won't have a choice, they can make me do things. Before, they had a control band, but now...now they have that nanotech implant at the base of my skull."

"Ah yes, Waller's control mechanism." David nodded in understanding. "She had that put in me too, but I already told her to kill me. But for some reason, I don't think that's going to happen. I'm too valuable."

"True," Ace said, "but I read her mind. She thinks she has a way to control you."

"Really," David said, arching an eyebrow, "torturing me won't work."

"No, but she thinks a girl with pink hair would change your mind, especially if they capture her."

David felt like someone had punched him in the gut. "Excuse me," he said. "What are you talking about?"

"A girl named 'Zoe'," Ace said. "CADMUS is interested in her since she first appeared in Metropolis a few days ago."

 _Oh god,_ David thought, _how is this possible? Wait...there as an attack at the Brewhouse before SST was attacked, Kyle said something about a portal...shit...it must have dropped Zoe somewhere in this world._

"Told you it was Metropolis," Ace said.

"Okay, kiddo," David said, "could you please stop reading my mind."

"Then stop thinking so loud," Ace fired back.

David couldn't help chuckling a little. "Okay...you got a point." His smile faded a little and he looked at her for a couple seconds. "Ace," he finally said. "why are you really here?"

"To ask you if you really think you can do what you intend to do."

"And what do you think I'm going to do, Ace?"

"Destroy CADMUS."

"I'm considering options, why do you ask?"

"Do you intend to destroy people like me?"

"Um...why? You're not on my list...hell, until now, I didn't even know about you." He reached out with his mind to the network again and accessed Ace's file. Then his eyes widened as his mind processed the data. "Holy shit," he whispered, shuddering slightly in horror at what he just learned about the girl he was talking to. Then he looked down at the floor for a moment before looking back at her. "I'm sorry," he said. "I didn't know."

"And does that change what you think of me now?' Ace asked.

David stared at her in disbelief. He had just learned who she was, what she had done, what she was theoretically capable of, and she was scared that he saw her the way others saw her. "No," he said, shaking his head again as he knelt down and put a hand on her shoulder. "You're not a monster...you're just a kid who got a raw deal."

For several seconds, Ace stood there, staring at him, her expression unreadable. "Do you have a plan?" she asked.

"Kind of, but you're not going to like it," David told her. "Hell, I don't like it."

"What is it?" Ace asked, now curious.

David gave her a grim look of determination. "I need you to be strong, kiddo, and I need you to do exactly what I tell you, even if you're not going to like it."

"What do you want me to do?"

"Very soon," David said, "in the next few hours actually...I'm going to cause an incident. And..."

He paused for a moment, causing Ace to gaze at him in concern. "And what?"

"And you're going to have to break me."


	11. And then it all goes to Hell

Disclaimer: Aberrant, owned by Onyx Publishing. Incredibles, owned by Pixar. JLU, owned by WB/DC. Ed Wasser is owned by...well, Ed Wasser...and I hope his "associates" don't get offended by my using him in this fic.

Author's Notes: Okay, the first half of the chapter is kind of light hearted, the second half...well, things are going to get interesting. Sadly, I lost a good portion of the second half so I had to cobble what I had left together to whatever I could come up while on painkillers and anti-biotics. There is also reference to a character known as "The Unknown Soldier"...he too is owned by DC (though I think they now publish him under the Vertigo imprint since the newer stories tend to be dark and for a more mature audience). Since the JLU 'verse tended to play fast and loose and tweaked some of the characters' backgrounds (like Doomsday and Powergirl/Galatea), I figure some people won't mind me tweaking some of the old DC characters and putting them in this 'verse. And yeah, I borrowed an idea from "X-Men Day's of Future Past"...though I have to admit, Quicksilver kind of reminded me of a male version of Zoe the way he was portrayed.

* * *

 _It's too late to change events  
It's time to face the consequence  
For delivering the proof  
In the policy of truth _

-Depeche Mode, "The Policy of Truth"

* * *

 _ **Metropolis. Delaware**_

 _ **1100 hrs**_

In a side alley just off the world famous Avenue of Tomorrow, there was a shimmer of bright blue light and three beings materialized into existence. Two of them were familiar to the world, one of them being Supergirl and the other one being The Flash. However, their companion, who was wearing blue jeans and a leather jacket, looked like a normal human despite having neon pink hair.

"Okay, so let me get this straight," Zoe said as she **walked** (oh, how she hated being forced to be slow) at normal speed out of the alley flanked by Flash and Supergirl. "You two are 'chaperoning' me because the almighty billionaire with emotional paranoia issues doesn't trust me to run around down here on my own."

"Hey, he's not all THAT bad," Flash started to say until Zoe turned and glared at him. "Okay," he admitted, "maybe Bats is wound a little tight, but can you blame him given what you know about us?"

"Oh yeah," Zoe snorted, "a lot of my information is based on fiction and is only partially accurate."

"Hey, at least I haven't died," Kara said.

"Yet," Zoe snickered. "Then again, it's better than being forgotten by some writers who suddenly realize you exist and then try to 'revamp' your background. You really don't want to know what they've done to you, Kara."

"Um...yeah," Flash said awkwardly, "no offense, Zoe, but all this talk about what is fictional and what is real is too trippy even for me. After all, going to that one retro-comic book based world kind of freaked us out a little."

"Oh really," Kara giggled. "Is that why you kept running out of the room for a week whenever Black Canary entered?"

"No," Flash hastily countered. "It's just that this situation is too 'Twilight Zone' for my taste, okay? I'm half expecting Rod Serling to show up."

Zoe laughed and shook her head. "C'mon, Flash," she said as she turned back around and started walking down the street. "He's long dead, so I don't think we'll run into him-" She was cut off in mid-sentence as she bumped into pedestrian who was getting out of a taxi. "Oh, crap, sorry sir," she said, "I wasn't paying attention...to...where...I...was-"

The man in his mid-forties with dark black hair and wearing a three piece suit gave her a big toothy grin. "It's okay," he said. Then he looked up at Supergirl and Flash. "And I'm assuming you are with these two."

"Um...yeah," Zoe said. "No offense, but aren't you supposed to be dead?"

The man chuckled and shook his head. "Yeah, but they brought me back anyway for the movies. For some reason, I'm big with the fans."

"Fans?" Zoe asked, now confused. "Twilight Zone is still popular?"

The man paused for a moment, then suddenly laughed as he realized who Zoe was referring to. "No, I'm not him, but you're not the first to compare me to him." Then he gave her a serious look. "You don't know who I am, do you?"

"Um...no."

"I'm Ed Wasser."

"Oh yeah!" Flash blurred out for a moment to reappear next to Zoe. "You play Mr. Morden," he said, shaking the man's hand. "Loved you in the TV series, scared the hell out of me, and you were awesome in the last movie."

"Wait...movie?" Zoe was really confused now.

"Yeah, it's part of a trilogy based off the Babylon Five TV series," Flash said. "Can't wait for the third installment to come out next year."

"So you're a fan," Mr. Wasser said.

"Kind of," Flash admitted, "but what brings you here to Metropolis?"

Wasser shrugged. "Oh, just meeting a couple friends, seeing the sights, and then it's back to Italy for filming."

"Cool."

"Wait...Babylon Five? They made theatrical movies based off that show here?" Zoe arched an eyebrow. "Damn, things really are different-"

"Yes they are," Supergirl said, cutting Zoe off. "And we have important things to do." She then threw a glare at Flash who was trying his best to keep his inner-fanboy in check and failing miserably. "Important stuff. Right, Flash?"

Thankfully, Flash got the hint. "Um, yeah, we're kind of showing the new girl around. She's not around from here, so we're-"

"Flash." Though the tone was calm, Flash and Zoe could hear the annoyed tone in Supergirl's voice.

"Well, Mr. Wasser, it's been nice meeting you," Flash said, trying to be professional.

"Would you like my autograph?" Mr. Wasser asked.

"Um...yeah, but like I said, we're kind of on duty...but if you could...could you...you know.."

"Flash, c'mon."

"I see you're busy, so I'll just cut right to it." Then Mr. Wasser's expression darkened a little despite the grin he was giving the scarlet speedster. "So tell me, Flash...what do you want?"

Supergirl rolled her eyes as Flash shook the man's hand. "That was awesome," Flash said. "Way better than an autograph and it still scares the crap out of me."

"It's all in the delivery," Wasser said. "Well, you best be off. But Flash, I will be at the premiere in Keystone next year." He gave Supergirl and Zoe a nod and then turned around and headed up the steps to the entrance of a nearby restaurant.

"That guy is awesome," Flash said. "Ow! Kara why did you just smack me on the back of the head."

"Earth to Flash, we're supposed to be professional heroes, not crazed fans."

Zoe giggled at that. "Hey, I'm the one who ran into him, and I can't believe they made theatrical movies based off that show. After five seasons, a few TV movies, and disastrous spinoff, it's gone nowhere."

"And let me guess," Flash said, "your Earth is filled with Trekkies."

Zoe snorted and shook her head. "Oh please...give me some credit, Stargate was a better show."

"What's Stargate?

"Okay, you two, knock it off," Supergirl snapped. "This is what Batman was talking about."

"Us talking about science fiction shows?" Zoe asked.

"No, you're throwing around random things from your world. You almost let slip about being from a different reality when you learned they made movies of that show here."

"I did? Well, it's a good thing you stopped me," Zoe said in an exaggerated tone, clutching her hand to her chest in mock horror. "Who knows how much damage I might have done to the space time continuum." Then she gave Supergirl a reassuring smile. "Kara, relax, it's science fiction...nothing important and earth shattering."

"Okay, I'm curious," Flash said, "what's Stargate?"

"An awesome show based off a B-grade film that took a life all its own, even had a couple spinoffs." Zoe was about to explain what the show was about until she caught Kara glaring at her again. "Aw, c'mon...seriously? What harm could be done?"

"None, but what if you were to make some off the cuff comments about us, not realizing you might be throwing out some information that might be trivial to you but damaging to us?"

Zoe was about to object, but then realized what Kara was saying. "Oh...shit...you're right. I'm sorry, but this is weird for me."

"It's okay, but try to think a little bit faster than you run."

"That's kind of a tall order," Zoe said.

"But it can be done." Kara then pointed at Wally who was now sipping a mocha and chowing down on a breakfast sandwich. "Just look at Flash...no...wait...bad example."

"Hey!"

Zoe giggled and shook her head. "Okay...you guys are way more amusing in real life." Then she sighed and leaned against the nearby wall of a building. "So, seriously...what do we do now? I just go around Metropolis and you two shadow me?"

Kara and Flash glanced at each other for a moment before nodding. "Pretty much," said Flash.

"Don't you think it's kind of suspicious for two heroes to be following some lone 'civilian' around?" Zoe asked. "Don't you guys have secret identities or something?

"Yeah, but that wouldn't work in this case," Kara replied. "People kind of know who you are because of your various public appearances since you showed up. No offense, but you do kind of stand out with that pink hair and almost every major coffee house knows you. We show up with you in our civilian identities, someone is bound to put two and two together."

"Except for certain Daily Planet reporters who are as dumb as a post," Zoe muttered under her breath.

"What was that?'

"Oh, nothing." Zoe sighed again and pushed off the wall she was leaning against. "Okay, fine...let's go get a mocha and then we have to hit the Grand Met Plaza hotel."

"Why?" Wally asked.

"Because that's where I was staying and I still have three days left on the suite I paid for," Zoe answered. "Besides, I got some stuff there I need to pick up."

"The Grand Metropolis Plaza Hotel," said Kara, a shocked look on her face. "How did you manage to...oh yeah...the money you stole from Lex."

"Stole," Zoe chuckled as she started to lead the way. "When dealing with people like Luthor, I believe the term is 'creatively acquired'." She then sped off towards the greater downtown area, disappearing in a pink blur.

Supergirl rolled her eyes, sighed, and looked up at the sky. "Somewhere up there, Wally," she said, "J'onn is up there on the Watchtower, laughing at us."

"Not likely,"said Flash. "I don't think he's ever actually laughed."

"Okay, grinning in a smug manner."

"Now THAT is very likely," Flash laughed. "C'mon, let's go find hot stuff before-"

An explosion cut him off in mid-sentence.

"Okay," he said. "She was only gone for a couple seconds, that couldn't be her."

Both of their earpiece communicators went off. "Flash, Supergirl, there's a situation in your area."

"No kidding, J'onn," Supergirl said. "What did our guest do this time?"

"Miss Kilmarten is currently checking out of the Grand Metropolis Hotel, but that is not the situation. Giganta and The Shade are attacking the Metropolis Diamond Exchange."

"Really?" Supergirl asked. "I thought they were brighter than that."

Flash grinned as he saw a hundred foot tall redheaded woman in a pink dress in the distance try to swat at a helicopter. "Fifty bucks says that there are at least a dozen pervs down there with cameras hoping she doesn't wear underwear."

"Wally!" Kara snapped.

"Just kidding," Flash laughed before speeding off towards the two criminals with Supergirl not too far behind.

* * *

Gorilla Grodd shook his head as he observed the two heroes head towards the Diamond Exchange to face off against Giganta and The Shade. "Sometimes, this is so pathetically easy, it's criminal," he chuckled as he jumped down off the top of the three story office building. He pulled a small device off the utility harness he as wearing and attached it to the key-pad next to the back door. A few seconds later, a green LED light lit up on the box and Grodd smiled as the back door opened. He entered the building and smiled as he noticed small red LED lights on the camera's flashing, indicating they were all in stand-by mode. Two minutes later, he had incapacitated the two security guards that were on duty and casually made his way to the vault.

It was a simple plan, really. Have Giganta and Shde cause a major distraction and he would help himself to a cache of the new data-chips that STAR Labs was secretly keeping at this nondescript holding facility. The new chips were going to be phased into use by certain US government agencies and Grodd was certain he could find several buyers who would like to get a look at the new chips. He looked at the security pad on the locking mechanism and smiled again. This time, he pulled off another device, a hand-held data pad that began linking up to the system on the vault and began running decryption algorithms.

In a less than a minute, the vault would be opened, and he would be on his way out with a very profitable haul. Superman was out of town and Flash and Supergirl were occupied with the distraction he had arranged. Nothing could possibly screw up what was pretty much an easy operation.

SLUUUUUUUUUURP!

The sound startled Grodd out of his thoughts. _What the hell was that?_

SLUUUUUUUUURP!

 _There it is again...behind me?_ He spun around, preparing to deal with the unexpected threat...only to find a young woman with pink hair wearing goggles, blue jeans, and a leather jacket, leaning against a wall and finishing off what his heightened sense of smell told him was some sort of blended coffee beverage.

 _Damn humans and their coffee addiction,_ he thought.

SLUUUUUUUURP!

Okay, he decided, that sound was getting annoying.

The girl frowned as she looked at the now empty cup she had sucked dry with her straw. "Damn...should have gotten the MegaMonster size," she said. Then she tossed the cup aside and looked at Grodd as if noticing him for the first time. "Hi," she said. Her tone was almost cheerful and friendly, which was kind of unsettling because Grodd knew that she only could have gotten in by sneaking in behind him and he should have heard her.

"Hello," Grodd said. Really, he had no idea what to do at the moment, what else could he say? If it had been another member of the League, that would be one thing. But this girl didn't look like a member of the Justice League. "Young lady, is there some reason why you're here?"

The girl paused for a moment, scratching her chin as if she were thinking about something. "Um...no," she said. "I was bored. You see, I ditched my two babysitters and then I found out that they had to deal with some emergency. Apparently, a couple bad guys were breaking into the diamond exchange, which is kind of odd when I thought about it."

"Really," Grodd said as he cautiously started to walk towards the young woman. "I'm assuming you are referring to Supergirl and the Flash."

The girl rolled her eyes. "Well, duh. I'm sorry, but where I come from, that screams 'DIVERSION'. I mean, why would two B-Listers hit a diamond exchange in Superman's hometown in the middle of the damn day? C'mon...I've seen that plot recycled a gazillion times in various heist movies and TV programs. Damn, no wonder they say my generation's going to hell; we're not being exposed to originality or creativity of any kind."

"Well, I can't argue with that," said Grodd as he stopped a few feet away from her. "But that doesn't explain why you're here."

"Oh, that," the girl said. "You see, when I heard what was going down at the diamond exchange, I ran around the area and I saw this really awesome looking creature who, if they ever do a remake of Planet of the Apes, should play Caesar because you've got the style and look badass enough to pull it off."

That comment caught Grodd by surprise. "I'm not sure if I should be insulted or complimented by that comment," he said. Though he didn't care much for that damn movie, he couldn't help feeling a little pride that a human called him a "badass".

"Yeah," the girl continued. "The original movie is a classic masterpiece, though I didn't like how unrealistic the apes looked. The remake wasn't too bad, which is what I grew up with...but Tim Burton just had to overreach and ruin the film by trying to outdo the original with the ending."

"I agree," Grodd admitted. "But now, as much as I'd like to stay and chat, I have important things to do."

"You mean like decrypting that complex locking mechanism?"

"Yes, like-" Grodd's eyes narrowed in suspicion. "How would you know?"

"Well, that is a vault, it has an encrypted code, and you are using some sort of data unit to decrypt it. At least I assume that's what you're doing because you aren't going all 'grrr...arrgh' and trying to rip the vault door off. If that was the plan, you would have brought the giant redhead with you to do that." Suddenly, she vanished in a pink blur, only to reappear at the door of the vault just as the data-pad flashed green and the locks began to disengage. "Oh look," the girl said as the door opened. "It's open!" She suddenly blurred out again for a second before reappearing in front of Grodd with a plastic container that held two dozen tiny items.

She looked up at him, a disappointed look on her face and said, "Really, computer chips...I was hoping for something kind of cool!"

"Hey!" Grodd tried to grab the tray from her, only to see her blur out and reappear several feet away...and toss the plastic container in a wastebasket.

The girl shook her head. "All that planning for technology that could be made obsolete within a few months...that's sad, I was kind of hoping better from the Great Gorlla Grodd."

"Who are you?" Grodd growled, this girl was really starting to annoy him now. "Some wannabe speedster friend of the Flash? A new aspiring heroine who thinks she can take on someone like me on her own."

The girl shook her head. "Nope. Not a hero, never wanted to be part of the cape and spandex club. And while Flash and Supergirl are good people, I think they're idiots." Then she gave Grodd an evil grin as she reached into her coat. "As for stopping you, I'm not doing it alone, I brought back-up."

"Oh really, and who might that be."

The girl's evil grin got bigger as she pulled a giant roll of duct tape out her coat. "Not, who, but what...its name is 3M." Grodd barely had time to ponder what the girl meant before she blurred out of existence; but seconds later, he realized in horror what the girl had intended.

And for the next few months, he would be spending time in a prison hospital recovering from the overall body shaving he had to endure.

* * *

 _ **Coast City, California**_

 _ **The Trevor House**_

 _ **1900 Hrs.**_

 _June 22, 1949_

 _It's been two years since Jay literally dropped out of the sky and left a crater in that vacant lot in Coast City. For a kid who is now eleven years old, he seems to be more informed, if not more cynical than kids his age should be Even though he seems to be adjusting to the situation, he keeps referring to some of our latest technology as 'old school' or 'retro'. When I bought a television, he grumbled about needing cable. His terminology is still odd, but he seems to be fitting in. They apparently have basketball wherever he's from and he enjoys playing the game. If I didn't know any better, I think it helps him cope. I still can't believe that he's from the future, but I've seen the evidence with my own eyes as well as my own encounter with Diana and her people during the war..._

 _October 12, 1959_

 _Jay and the rest of the Challengers came back from an assignment in Brazil and it was quite frightening what they discovered. Still can't believe it myself, but some former high ranking Nazi officials managed to set up base of operations down in the Amazon jungle. Apparently they were trying to construct new weaponry based on the some of the weapons they managed to salvage from Savage's base of operations. Though the Challengers did take some of the confiscated technology for further investigation, Jay arranged for most of it to be taken to Blackhawk Island. Speaking of which, the 'hawks have taken a liking to Jay and Chuck has pretty much taken Jay under his wing and taught him everything he knows about aircraft...not like the kid actually needs it..._

 _January 17, 1961_

 _I finally told Jay about what happened in the war and his reaction was...unusual. Then again, I shouldn't have been surprised by it given how he reacted when I took him to Metropolis in '48. Back then, he kept looking at the Daily Planet building in disbelief and wanted to see if a Clark Kent worked there. He was mildly disappointed when he found out that there was no one there by that name. When I told him about Diana and the others, he started to laugh and I thought he actually lost it. When I asked him what was wrong, he shook his head and said, "Oh, pretty much everything...". He hit the alcohol pretty hard that night, but I doubt he even managed to get mildly drunk..._

 _November 21, 1963_

 _The kid's been rather moody. I would almost say he was depressed. He had recently come back from another mission with the Challengers, but he claims that is not what's got him down. He did ask me what I would do if I knew something was going to happen...something so tragic that it could shake the entire country...would I dare try to change it. I asked him what he meant by that, but he wouldn't say anything. He knows something, but he won't tell me what it is..._

 _November 23, 1963_

 _I found the kid out on the back porch, once again drinking the last of my whiskey. He did go to Dallas yesterday, he tried to stop it from happening...and he failed. He kept muttering something about conspiracy nuts being wrong about the number of shooters..._

 _January 17, 1972_

 _It's been twenty-five years since Jay showed up. I've had my suspicions about him. For someone who is supposed to be in his mid-thirties, he still looks like he's fresh out of high-school. I suspect that it might have something to do with the nature of his powers. I'm also concerned that I'm not the only one who suspects the truth about him. I notice some government operatives watching us. I contacted Hazard and Soldier about it and it seems there are certain people at the Pentagon who are interested in Jay and the rest of the Challengers. Their most recent mission ended with them butting heads with Lieutenant Wade Eiling of the United States Air Force. Apparently, the pentagon tried to send a covert team to Black Hawk island. According to Chuck, Eiling actually shot Jay three times. After taking the bullets, Jay got up and proceeded to beat Eiling to a pulp on the beach. I suspect Jay would have killed him if the rest of the Challengers weren't there to pull him off Eiling. As it is, I have to go to the Pentagon next week and explain how my adopted son managed to take three shots to the chest and then proceeded to break Eiling's legs afterwards..._

 _March 25, 1978_

 _Jay informed me that he was heading out to Gotham City. Wouldn't say way, but he said he had to help someone cope with some personal demons. Not sure why he'd want to go there, especially after what happened last month with the Wayne murders...the papers are still running that story..._

 _September 15, 1994_

 _Still recovering from the heart attack, but Jay informed me he's got things covered at the house. I have to admit it bothers me that old age is catching up to me, it should be starting to catch up to him but he still looks like a damn kid out of high school. The original Challengers of the Unknown have retired; though Jay is helping train the new team, he plans on going inactive. He says he's going to take a sabbatical and try to 'find himself'. I don't buy it...he never was one to buy into that type of new age hippie shit. I do think, however, he's going to be doing some soul searching. He did say something about going to Metropolis to see if there is a Clark Kent working at the Daily Planet. I know he said it as a joke, but he is from the future. On another note...Superman appeared in Metropolis...which makes me wonder how soon before Diana shows up..._

Diana set the old journal down on a nearby table and closed her eyes as she leaned back in the chair she was sitting in.

 _I am an Amazon warrior,_ she thought to herself, willing the tears that threatened to fall anyway. She partially succeeded, only a single tear rolled down her cheek and she quickly wiped it away. _I spent the last few hours reading about major events in his life, and he did have a full life._

For a moment, Diana wished she could have stayed, could have been with him. But she also knew that wouldn't have been possible. In the last few hours, she learned a lot about the man she could have loved...might have loved.

"He's gone...but he doesn't feel, gone." Diana's eyes snapped open a the sound of that voice and she saw Jay standing a few feet away from her, looking at one of the paintings on the wall of the USS Enterprise aircraft carrier. "Then again, for those we truly care about, those we truly love, they live on so long as we remember them."

"Do you believe that?" Diana asked.

Jay shrugged. "Not sure one way or the other, Princess," he replied. "But he doesn't feel gone, maybe it's the place. I mean, I did help him build it when he bought the land back in '52." He laughed and shook his head. "You know, it's kind of trippy...being thrown back in time nearly sixty years as a kid, and growing up in a world similar, but different from my own. Can't really blame the old man for being old fashioned since I was born near the end of the twentieth century, was a child of the twenty-first and got thrown back in to the middle of the twentieth to grow up. We almost have the same taste in music." Then his smile faded a little. "Steve was a good man and I gotta' tell ya, my life would have been hell if he hadn't found me. There were times I almost called him 'Dad'."

"Jay, what are you?"

"Excuse me?"

"I'm sorry, but reading Steve's journal, he has a lot of entries about you. You claim to know the young woman we have as a guest on our station, but I doubt you're the same kind of being she is."

A faint smile returned to Jay's face. "You've read most of what Steve wrote in there, what do you think I am?"

"I would say 'meta-human', or, as Zoe refers to herself, a nova."

The young man snorted at that. "Yeah," he said, "meta-human...a catch-all term for anyone with super-powers. Novas...no we're a little bit different. We may all have different powers, but we all have a few key characteristics that link us together. However, that's a long discussion and I'm not that skilled on genetics and quantum mechanics...at least not yet, just give me a couple decades."

"Is Zoe long-lived like you?"

Jay shook his head again. "No, but that could change should she manage to unlock her potential. However, from what I understand, I think you got me beat in the longevity department."

Despite herself, Diana laughed. "Yes, I suppose you're right."

Jay pulled up a chair and sat down in front of her. "To be honest, Diana, I'm not sure what I would call myself," he said. "Meta-human, nova," he flashed her a mischievous grin, "I suppose I could get away calling myself a god, but my ego's not that big."

"Perhaps you're like Superman."

"Not likely, yellow sunlight doesn't give me a funky adrenaline high like it does him." He picked up the journal Diana was reading and thumbed through it. "Over five decades of secrets are in this thing," he said. He closed the journal and put it back on the table. "And that's just a fraction of what he knew, but I think it captured a good part of who and what he was...which I think is why he wanted you to have it. I also believe you should have it."

"All those entries about you," she said softly as she shook her head. "I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't witnessed what you had done to those CADMUS snipers."

Jay grinned sheepishly. "Yeah, sorry about that, but I did notify someone and they did take care of the mess."

"That would explain the other government types that showed up minutes later and told me to, and I quote, 'get lost because you were never here'."

"Yeah," Jay chuckled softly, "that sounds like Soldier and his crew."

"Soldier?"

The young man shook his head again. "Sorry, Princess," he said. "Not my secret to tell, but he's a friend...sort of. He doesn't care much for the League, but he sees CADMUS as a greater threat. He and Steve helped put together an organization that acts as a sort of watchdog on certain government agencies and personnel that would take, shall we say, overambitious actions to reach their stated goals? Steve and Soldier knew that a group like theirs had to be around to keep things in check. Unfortunately, CADMUS is supposedly on OUR side, which means a lot of people high up in the government are perfectly content to ignore our warnings and let them run wild. Hell, it wouldn't surprise me if certain people high up are ordering them to."

"This 'Soldier', who is he?"

"Honestly couldn't tell you. But he and Steve go way back, all the way back to the war."

"Is he empowered as well?"

"Y'know...I never really gave it much thought," said Jay. "But given the fact that he's old as Steve and can still beat the shit out of special force operatives, I'm going to say he's got some enhancements."

Diana smirked at him. "You sound like you're afraid of him."

"You would be too," Jay threw back at her. "We're talking about a guy who doesn't exist, but has nearly unlimited power. With a simple command, he could have someone 'erased', and that's why CADMUS fears him."

"It sounds like he could be as much a threat as CADMUS is."

"Yeah, but Soldier sees himself as a patriot, a protector of this country. He doesn't care about the power and control like CADMUS."

Diana thought about the encounter with Waller at the Retirement home and everything started to fall into place. "And with Steve dead, CADMUS figures they could help themselves to Steve's secrets regarding this Solider and his organization."

"Something like that, but it's not so much him they're worried about," Jay said. "But that's not why I wanted you here. Steve said you could be trusted with my secret and I believe him. However, I gotta' tell you, this is going to sound crazy."

"Is this part where you tell me that you're from an alternate reality and that I'm a character in a comic book?" Diana asked, smiling at the shocked reaction on the young man's face. "Zoe Kilmarten filled us in, but I'm still confused. She's only been here a few days, but you've been here for nearly sixty years. How did that happen?"

A dark look crossed Jay's face, but disappeared quickly. "Not sure about that," he replied. "But when I get back, I'm going to have some harsh words with the bastard that stranded me here. Did Zoe tell you how she got here?"

"She gave us a device she claimed belonged to a group of armed soldiers that used this device to shift to her world."

Jay fell silent for a few seconds. "A device," he finally said. He raised his right hand and held it palm up in front of Diana as it began to glow. The yellowish glow intensified for a couple seconds before fading away to leave a beaten and battered, but familiar, piece of equipment in his hand. "Did it happen to look like this?"

Diana took the device out of his hand. "Yes," she replied. After taking a few seconds to examine it, she looked back at the young man. "Where did you get this?"

"The basement." Jay smiled at Diana as she rolled her eyes at that comment. "But seriously, I'm not sure how I originally got it. Steve said it was found with me in the small crater I left from the impact."

"Would you mind if I take it back to the Watchtower to have some friends look at it?"

"I take it you mean a certain key members of your club."

"Yes."

Jay thought about it for a moment before nodding. "Sure, but I'll be honest with you, Princess. I don't trust Hawkgirl and Geeen Lantern. So, if possible, keep them out of it." At the mention of those two names, Diana could hear venom in the young man's voice.

""May I ask why?"

"Sure, and I'll even give you an answer. First off, Green Lantern may be from this planet, but he answers to someone else outside this planet's authority and I really don't want to deal with those beings. They would see me as a threat." Jay paused for a moment as he saw the puzzled look on Diana's face. "I know what you're thinking, Diana: why make a big deal over someone like me when there are beings like you and Superman running around down here? I'm not bragging here, but trust me when I say that you don't want to see what happens if someone like me lets loose. Teleporting snipers and objects around are cheap parlor tricks compared to what I can do."

Diana was about to make some snide comment to that, but the look she saw in the man's eyes told her that he was telling the truth. That's when it dawned on her. _He's afraid,_ she thought, _like Kal...he's afraid of what he can do to this world if he doesn't reel it in._

Then she remembered Amanda Waller's comment from a few days earlier.

" _ **Oh, and Robertson, we may yet actually get to see you fight a Kryptonian..."**_

Diana, having learned of Supergirl's clone, wondered if the League wasn't the only threat they created Galatea for. However, she decided, that could be discussed later. "So you don't want to attract too much attention," she said.

"Pretty much, but I have a feeling I won't be able to hide for much longer. However, until then, I would prefer to lay low. It's better to be known as a mildly empowered member of the Challengers. The last thing I need is your Jarhead in green tights telling his masters that there's a potential threat hiding out on Earth."

"I think you're being a little paranoid."

Jay gave her a crooked smile. "Maybe I am," he said, "but it's kept me under the radar for the most part. Even during the various invasions, I tried to keep things to a minimum, preferring to let you 'experts' handle the world threatening events...except for one."

"The Thanagarian invasion," said Diana. "That's why you don't trust Hawkgirl. Trust me, I can understand why you don't trust her, but she betrayed her own people to save our world in the end. I'll admit I still do have some issues with her, but she is trying to redeem herself."

"Good to know, Princess," Jay replied. "But do me a favor and keep her out of this if you can. Or at the very least, keep her away from me."

Diana's eyes narrowed in suspicion. "There's more to that story about you killing some of her fellow warriors in the invasion, isn't there?"

Jay didn't answer her right away. Instead, he got up out of his chair and walked over to look out a window that offered a view of Coast City harbor. He looked out at the city, seemingly appreciating the view of the glistening city at night before turning back to look at her. "Yeah, Diana," he finally said. "There's more to it, but you should ask Shayera Hol what happened in Colorado. After all, she led the initial assault on that town before letting the occupying forces take over. And if our paths do cross, I can't promise that she won't get her wings clipped if she tries to aveng her fallen comrades. Because I gotta' tell ya, a handful of Thanagarian warriors doesn't make up for the men, women, and children they gunned down to 'make an example'."

For a moment, Jack's eyes glowed red, similar to Superman when he was about to use his heat vision. Diana started to rise out of her chair, but stopped when the glow faded away and Jay shook his head.

"Sorry, Diana," he said. "There are some things that continue to haunt a person. No matter how powerful one is, they can't save everyone." Then he stopped and looked past Diana and into the shadowy hallway entrance that led into the living room. "Isn't that right, Batman?"

Diana turned around to see Batman stepping out of the shadows of the dimly lit hallway and enter the room. "How long were you there?" she asked.

"Long enough," Batman replied. He then turned his attention to Jay. "Robertson."

Jay nodded in greeting. "Bruce, it's been awhile. I'd offer to shake your hand, but you're 'on duty' and probably don't trust me."

"It's nothing personal."

Diana looked at the two men in disbelief. "Wait, hold on. You two know each other?"

Jay smiled at her again. "Kind of...weren't you paying attention when you read that journal?"

Batman cut her off before she could reply. "You don't have much time," he said. "CADMUS has a strike team en route. ETA is four minutes."

"Damn, those assholes move fast," Jay muttered. He walked over to where the painting of the USS Enterprise was and removed it from the wall, revealing a panel with a key pad. He punched in a quick code and the whole section of the wall slid open to reveal a small vault. He grabbed a metal strong-box and handed it to Batman. "Okay, take that and get the hell out of here."

"Batman, what are you doing here?" asked Diana.

"Activity kicked up on CADMUS' communication channels since the death of Colonel Trevor," replied Batman as he examined the strong-box he was holding. "Eiling authorized a strike team fifteen minutes ago to move in."

"Eiling," Jay snorted as he proceeded to pull a pair of .45 automatic pistols out of the vault, put a full magazine in each, and put one of pistols in a shoulder holster. "I should have broken more than just his legs."

"Jay, what are you going to do?" Diana asked, wondering why the young man was bothering with the pistols after she had seen him teleport two snipers from a mile away and drop them to their deaths a few days earlier.

"Putting up a 'final fight', Princess." Jay smiled coldly at her and Diana wondered, for a moment, where that likable young man she was talking to had gone. "We got one government strike team...probably three choppers total inbound. You and the Dark Knight are going to take that journal and that strong box out of here along with that device."

"Robertson." There was a hint of warning in Batman's voice. "Keep in mind most of those soldiers are merely following orders."

Jay arched an eyebrow. "Most?" he repeated.

"Eiling is with them."

"Well then...this will be interesting." Jay stepped back and the vault sealed up. He put the painting back in place over the control panel and frowned. "Probably shouldn't have done that," he said. "Since it's probably going to be riddled with bullets in the next few minutes." He flicked the safety off and turned to look at Batman and Diana. "Sorry about cutting things short, Princess, but you know how it is...no rest of the wicked."

Suddenly, a bright light shined through the front window, momentarily blinding the three of them as three helicopters focused their spotlights on the house.

"This is General Eiling," a gruff voice announced over the external speakers on one of the helicopters.

Jay flashed Batman and Diana a grin. "And speaking of wicked," he said. "Speak and he shall appear."

"By order of the United States Government, you are under arrest," Eiling continued. "Come out with your hands up."

Jay sighed and rolled his eyes. "Wow, tense and dramatic moment and it gets ruined with lame and predictable dialogue. Yep...that's Eiling alright, tense and lame. Okay, you two, get out of here."

"I'm not one for running," Diana said, glaring at the young man to defy her opinion on this.

"Maybe not, Diana, but this isn't your fight. This is something that's been threatening to come to a head long before you and your little club of spandex and capes got together." Jay then glanced at Batman. "No offense."

"None taken," Batman replied. "This box, how does it open?"

"You're the goddamn Batman, you figure out," Jay laughed. "Just make sure you get that box and journal out of here."

"We're not leaving you to fight alone, Jay," Diana argued. "That's not our way."

"Of course it's not, but that journal and strong box are more important. Diana, please...this is Steve's legacy...protect it first."

"Batman to Watchtower."

Diana suddenly turned on Batman. "Bruce, what the hell are you doing?"

"Doing what he suggested," Batman said while looking at Jay. "We'll be back shortly...J'onn, two to beam up."

"Batman, no-" Diana was cut off as she and Batman vanished in a flash of blue-white light, leaving Jay standing alone in the living room.

"Robertson," Eiling's voice bellowed from outside. "You have ten seconds to comply!"

With another sigh, Jay took one final look around the living room and looked skyward. "Wherever you are, old man, I just want to say thanks for all you've done...and sorry about any property damage that's about to occur." Then he went up to the front door and opened it to be greeted by several spotlights being shined at his face from the choppers and a couple tactical vehicles that were parked at the end of the driveway. He kept his arms at his sides as he stepped out onto the front porch, but made sure they could see the .45 in his hand. He ignored the nearly two dozen soldiers that formed a semi-circle around the house, assault rifles, some with laser targeting, pointed at him. "Evening, Wade," he called out to the chopper that hovered above him. "I see Waller's got you running errand for her, tonight. Did you remember to stop at Taco Bell and pick up about a dozen family packs to fill her troth for the night?"

"Drop the gun, Robertson," Eiling ordered, irritation could be heard in his voice. "And put your hands behind your head."

"We went through this thirty years ago, Wade, and you shot me first last time...before I broke both your legs. You never learn, do you?"

"But we're ready for you this time," Eiling countered before giving the order. "Take him down."

On instinct, Jay tapped into the quantum energy field of the surrounding area, allowing him to sense and feel everything, including the oncoming wave of bullets heading his direction. With a simple wave of his hand, a wave of crackling blue energy arced outward, literally throwing the bullets away and knocking several soldiers off their feet, some of them getting hit by their own bullets that were violently thrown back at them by the backlash of energy.

Before anyone could react, Jay brought up his own weapon and fired, emptying the magazine as he moved off the porch and ran across the front of the house. Most of his shots took out the spotlights on Eiling's chopper, but two bullets managed to get into the open cargo compartment where Eiling was and grazed each of the General's legs. He then threw the now emptied .45 at an approaching soldier. With another wave of a hand, the pistol exploded into its component parts, scattering everywhere and inflicting minor wounds on a couple of the approaching troops.

He pulled the other .45 from his shoulder holster and proceeded to fire at the spotlights on the other chopper as he ran towards it.

"Screw this," Eiling yelled. "Hit him with everything!"

"Shit!" Jay screamed he saw the main heavy-caliber machine gun mounted on the front of the helicopter he was approaching open fire. He dropped the now empty pistol and jumped upward, kicking his flight ability in and twisting to the side to dodge the enfilade of bullets. Two bullets managed to catch him in the arm, but he didn't notice the pain as he landed in the transport compartment of the chopper and grabbed one of the troopers lining up a shot at him. He tossed the man out of the craft and lashed out with a kick that knocked another trooper backward, causing him in to discharge his weapon inside the craft and shoot the pilot up front.

Jay jumped out of the craft as it careened out of control and watched as it came down in the back yard, crushing the small guest house he and Steve had built twenty years earlier. "Damn," he muttered as floated there in the air, shaking his head. "I had just put new flooring in that thing." He then looked at the two remaining choppers and raised both hands, clenching them into fists. Sinister arcs of blue-white and gold energy started to dance around his fists and his arms. "Okay, Eiling," he said. "Let's finish this."

"Good idea," he heard a female voice say above him, causing him to look up.

"Huh?" That was the only word Jay managed to get out as red twin bursts of energy hit him in the chest. The beams actually hurt as they burned away his shirt and jacket and seared part of his chest. But it wasn't enough to take him out.

But the sudden fist to his face did snap his head back and send him crashing through the roof of the house, the upper floor, the main floor, and three feet into the concrete floor of the basement. "Ow," he groaned as he pushed some rubble off his body. "That DID hurt."

"Oh, don't quit now," he heard the voice say. He looked up again and saw a woman with short blond hair wearing white boots and a form fitting unitard looking down at him through the large hole in the roof.

Her eyes glowed a deep red as she gave him an evil grin. "Because," she said, "we're just getting started."

TBC


	12. And then it all goes to Hell II

Disclaimer: Justice League Unlimited owned by DC and Warner Brothers. Aberrant, owned by White Wolf. Jack Parr, property of Pixar/Brad Bird (yeah, I know I do disclaimers on every chapter, but I understand certain corporate entities get annoyed if you don't, and then FFN will threaten to pull your fic (or simply outright do it and not tell you) so why risk it?) Zoe, originally created by McSlave (Nick, thanks for letting me use your character...you have to admit, she's come a long way since the old gaming days).

Author's Notes: To the guy who gave me their theory about Booster Gold and Mitchell Carter...and how the worlds were initially connected...you were mostly correct, but that other idea you had...DAMN, wish I had thought of that...mind if I borrow it?

* * *

 _"You're off the edge of the map, mate. Here, there be monsters."_

-Captain Barbossa, Pirates of the Caribbean-Curse of the Black Pearl

* * *

 **The Watchower**

 **Somewhere in Orbit above Earth**

"So let me get this straight," Superman said as he looked at the three people standing in front of him on the lower deck of the Watchtower command center.

Two of the individuals, Supergirl and Flash, were apprehensive due to the current dressing down they were being given by one of the founders of the League. The third, Zoe, didn't seem too bothered by it. In fact, she seemed more interested in the mocha-shake she was drinking than in what "the boy scout in blue tights who had a girlfriend who was as dumb as a post because she went for years being fooled by a pair of glasses" was saying.

"You three went to Metropolis," the Man of Steel continued. "It was simple." He pointed at the three of them. "Zoe, you were to behave, and you two were supposed to keep her out of trouble."

"Um, I did behave," Zoe said, not cowed at all by the glare the Kryptonian was giving her. "All I did was take off for the hotel I was staying at and checked out."

"And we were about to catch up with her when we got the call about the attack on the Diamond Exchange," Flash added.

"We didn't even know about Grodd until after we dealt with Giganta and Shade," Supergirl said.

"And by the time we got to him, he had already been dealt with," Flash finished, wincing slightly as he remembered what he and Kara witnessed when they had arrived at the scene in question. "Although, I think we might get in trouble with PETA if they ever saw what Zoe did."

Zoe shrugged. "Screw 'em," she said, still ignoring the glare from Superman and the shocked look on Kara's face. "I didn't do anything lethal to him, I merely contained him and waited for the authorities like any good citizen would do." She then leaned over and pretended to stage-whisper to Kara. "Do you think your cousin bought it?"

"You could have been-" Superman started to say, but Zoe cut him off with a wave of her hand.

"Yeah, yeah, could have been hurt, could have been killed, should have run to safety and let the professionals like you EVENTUALLY deal with him." She rolled her eyes. "Please, spare me...okay? I come from a world where people like me either sell out, get exploited, marketed, abused, or all of the above and we got beings that make Gorilla Grodd look like...well...a big dumb ape suffering from delusions of grandeur." Then she looked Superman in the eye. "And I'm not about to be lectured by the leader of the spandex and cape set who wears his underwear OUTSIDE the pants."

She then paused to glance at Kara and Wally. "No offense intended to you two."

"Um, okay," Wally said, unsure of what he should say.

Zoe returned her attention to Superman and sighed. "I know, you're Superman, the Man of Steel, badass hero and leader of the Justice League. And I'm certain you have this so called 'high and mighty' code of ideals that you and the rest of your club believe gives you the right to talk down to others beneath your station, but that doesn't work on me. I didn't do anything wrong, I didn't hurt anyone, and I don't give into bullies...so back the hell off."

Silence suddenly filled the room. Technicians that were manning their stations in the command center suddenly appeared more focused on their job and the other heroes nearby stood in shocked silence at this unknown little girl who seemed to be getting into Superman's face and not backing down. To them, this pink haired young lady was literally spitting into the face of a god. Of course, the fact that sparks of lighting started to arc around her eyes and face may have also added to the effect.

For a few seconds, nobody said anything as everyone waited to see what Superman's reaction would be to the defiant young woman. But a flash of white light from the teleport pad in the CIC suddenly got everyone's attention as Batman and an an angry Wonder Woman arrived.

"We need to get back there, now!" Wonder Woman's angry tone got everyone's attention as she followed Batman off the platform.

"And we will, Diana," the Dark Knight replied as he handed the metal box he was carrying to J'onn. "J'onn secure this in one of our main labs." He then looked over at Diana and gestured at the journal she was carrying. "You might want to put that in a secure place as well. You have less than five minutes."

Reluctantly, the amazon took off towards an elevator that would take her to the level her personal quarters was located. "What makes you think we have five minutes?" she mittered under her breath.

"Batman, what's going on?" Superman asked as he approached the Dark Knight, momentarily forgetting about the confrontation he was having with Zoe.

"CADMUS has launched an attack on Steve Trevor's home in Coast City," Batman replied as he walked over to a nearby terminal and began tapping some keys that brought up a satellite view over Coast City. After tapping in a couple commands, the feed zoomed in to show a burning two story home surrounded by soldiers and several military vehicles. Two helicopters hovered around the house shining spotlights on the burning structure while the remains of a third helicopter continued to burn a dozen yards away. "Damn," he half-growled before looking back to Superman. "Diana's right, we don't have five minutes."

* * *

 **Coast City, California**

"Y'know," Galatea said as she floated above her target as he staggered back to his feet, "I'm kind of disappointed."

"Really?" Jay asked as he brushed some rubble off his shoulder. "How's that?" He frowned as he momentarily glanced down at his torn jacket. "Dammit, I really loved that jacket too."

"I heard about what you're capable of," Galatea said as she watched Jay rip his jacket away and toss it aside. "And yeah, while I admit the packaging is good to look at, you're nothing like the way the reports described you?"

Jay looked up at the blond haired clone. "And how exactly do they describe me?"

"Oh, you know...supposedly super-strong, can fly, and pretty much trash anything you go against." Galatea's eyes started to glow red again. "But you've hardly done anything to impress me."

A searing burst of energy exploded out of her eyes...only to collide with a burst of energy coming from Jay's eyes, sending a shock wave that took out the entire house at ground level and knocking most of the CADMUS ground troops off their feet.

"What the hell was that?" General Eiling asked as the pilot of the helicopter he was on struggled to stay up in the air after being hit by the shock wave. The other chopper wasn't lucky and went down, its rotor-blades hitting the ground before the body did, causing the craft to cartwheel as it ripped apart. He looked down at the burning remains of the Trevor house, trying to see through the smoke. "Where the hell is Galatea?"

The smoke cleared and he saw Jay Robertson standing there, shirtless and wearing now torn jeans as he looked directly at Eiling. The young man gave Eiling a mock salute and a smug grin.

"Take that smiling son of a bitch out!" Eiling ordered.

Tracer fire interspersed with armor piercing rounds rained down on Roberston who calmly walked towards the CADMUS ground troops, ignoring the bullets that were hitting him. The ground troops scrambled back to their feet and joined the helicopter in its assault, firing on the man who kept walking towards them. When he reached the first trooper, he ripped the gun out of the soldier's hand before kicking the soldier in the chest, sending the man at least fifty yards before he hit the ground.

"Okay, people," Jay said as the troops stopped to put fresh magazines in their weapons. "You can walk away or go home in a funeral urn." To emphasize his point, his hand started to glow and the gun he was holding literally melted away, dripping to the ground as nothing more than super-heated slag. "It's your choice."

A white blur suddenly slammed into him, taking him airborne as Galatea tackled him. They both hit the ground a half-mile away, leaving a small trench in the ground when they landed for another hundred yards before coming to a stop. Galatea managed to land on top of Robertson, straddling him as she continue to punch away at his face.

"That fucking hurt, asshole!" she snarled. Her blond hair was partially singed and her white unitard was ripped in some places, revealing first degree burns on her skin. She kept pounding away on him, taking satisfaction that he was actually bleeding from the hits he was taking. Then she stopped as she realized he was smiling. "Care to tell me what's so funny?"

Jay spit some blood before he spoke. "I should have known," he snickered, "you do seem like an 'always on top ' kind of girl. Tell me, does Eiling pass you around the CADMUS locker room to boost troop morale?"

"Fuck you!" Galatea screamed as she brought her right fist down, putting all her strength into it in the hopes of shattering the punk's jaw.

At least that was the plan until one hand suddenly came up and caught her by the wrist. The smile on Jay Robertson's face was gone, replaced by a cold look of determination. "Is that all you got?" he asked.

Galatea's eyes started to glow again to unleash another burst of heat vision, but her world suddenly erupted in pain as Jay tightened his grip on her wrist, suddenly squeezing really hard before a wet snap could be heard as he broke it. The clone cried out in pain as Jay swung out with his other arm, the punch catching her in the jaw and snapping her head back. She would have gone flying if Jay wasn't still holding her by the broken wrist. Instead, she landed next to him, the impact sending a light tremor through the ground.

Jay released his grip on her wrist and kicked himself back to his feet. "Pathetic," he said as he looked down at her. "You let your temper get the best of you, but then again, that's to be expected. You're just a clone of Supergirl after all...a second-rate copy of the original."

Galatea managed to roll into a crouch, clutching her injured wrist. She could feel the bones mending and she knew her wrist would be as good as new in a minute. But she was still in shock at the fact that the man managed to actually hurt her. "I'm nothing like that loser," she hissed at him. "I'm better than her."

"Oh yeah," Jay countered. "And yet she's the hero and you're just a puppet being used by some shadowy agency." He smiled at her again. "How's the wrist doing? Is it healing up? It must be a new experience for you...fighting someone who can fight back and actually hurt you."

"What are you? An alien?"

"Oh hell no," Jay chuckled, shaking his head. "I'm home grown...born and raised on Earth...though I will admit I am kind of from out of town."

Galatea stood back up, clenching and unclenching her right hand and rotating her now healed wrist. "So I underestimated you," she said. "I won't be making that mistake again." Sped sped forward, throwing a flurry of punches and kicks that would have taken Supergirl down.

Jay blocked most of the blows, countering with a couple of his own. One right-cross broke through his defenses and he stumbled back.

"Gee, guess you're not as tough you talk," Galatea taunted him. Her eyes started to glow as she prepared to hit him with another burst of heat vision, but a bolt of blue-white energy shot out from one of his outstretched hands and hit her in the chest. Pain burned through her body and she cried out in pain as she dropped to her knees.

Then the realization hit her as she remembered she had felt this kind of pain before...when she was fighting David Pine Flynn.

 _Except Flynn had those funky energy gauntlets. This Jay Robertson doesn't need them. But still...this can't be a coincidence._

Jay stood there for a moment, watching as the Supergirl clone struggled to get back to her feet. He winced as he looked at some of the burns on her skin that was revealed through some of the tears in her uniform. "Damn...that looks like what, possible second-degree burns there."

"They'll heal soon," Galatea snapped at him, wondering why the man didn't try to finish her off.

"Oh, I have no doubt," Jay fired back. "But if I can hurt you with a simple energy burst, imagine what I could do to you if I really cut loose."

"You're full of shit, boy."

"Am I?" Jay chuckled at her, his eyes flashing light blue for a moment. "Galatea, did it ever occur to you to think that maybe, just maybe, Kryptonians aren't as high up on the food-chain as most people seem to believe?"

"And what, exactly are you?" Galatea asked, trying to come up with a strategy to take this threat down. Unfortunately, she wasn't coming up with any ideas at the moment so she figured it was best to keep him talking, maybe the idiot might let some intel slip about himself. "You said you were born and raised here, another alien race perhaps?"

Jay shook his head. "Never said that, just said I was born and raised on Earth. But no, I'm not from some alien world and I'm not some walking, talking, airheaded science experiment with a chip on their shoulder either."

"You seem to know a lot about me," Galatea said.

"Did you ever wonder why Waller didn't send you and your little club after me until AFTER Steve Trevor was dead?" Jay asked.

"It's none of my business...I'm just a soldier doing what I'm told."

Suddenly, Jay Roberston's expression changed. For a moment, the smart-ass young man disappeared and he looked at her with sadness in his eyes. "What really sucks is that I believe you when you say that," he said. "To be honest with you, I don't want to put you down."

"That's okay," Galatea replied, "because I don't feel the same way about you." She was about to charge him at super-speed when a white light flashed into existence nearby. When the light faded a second later, seven people stood there, causing Galatea to roll her eyes. "And of course THEY would show up."

"Stand down, Galatea," Superman ordered, flanked by Batman and Wonder Woman while Supergirl, Flash, Martian Manhunter and Zoe spread out to surround Robertson and the CADMUS clone. "CADMUS has no jurisdiction here."

Galatea smiled. "Actually, I think you got it wrong," she said. "This is a military operation authorized by the United States government and we are on US soil. So I think I stand on legal grounds when I inform you that YOU and your club have no jurisdiction here and you can fuck off." Then her smile got bigger as she caught sight of Supergirl. "But if you need to be removed, I'll be more than willing to finish off what we-"

There was a blur and a small sonic boom that actually knocked a couple League members off their feet except for Superman and Wonder Woman who both still had to stagger back. Supergirl, who was already airborne, managed to stay up and looked on in shock as she saw her clone go flying a few miles over Coast City before disappearing over a hillside on the other side of the city. She looked down where Galatea had been and saw the unknown man standing there shaking his hand.

"Damn, I think might have sprained my hand," the man said. He then looked up at Supergirl and smiled. "And for the record, I think she got her hard-headedness from you."

"Whoa there, big guy," Kara said. "We're not here to fight."

The man arched an eye-brow at her. "Big Guy?" he repeated as if trying the words on before shaking his head. "Nah, lousy idea for a super-name. I'll just stick with Jay." He then looked over at the other League members. "Batman, Diana...I thought I told you two to get out of here."

"You did," Batman replied as he nodded at the young man. "But we never promised to not come back without help."

Jay shook his head and snickered. "Damn...you got a point. Unfortunately, you just put yourself in the middle of an ugly fight."

"Maybe so," Diana said as she walked over to Jay while Superman and Batman followed behind her. "But we don't leave friends behind either."

"Good to know, but now we have to deal with the goon-squad," Jay said, gesturing at the lone helicopter and remaining CADMUS troops. "It's your call, Wade!" he called out. "Be smart and withdraw, or be an idiot and get your men killed."

* * *

 **CADMUS HEADQUARTERS**

 **Santa Fe, New Mexico**

Amanda Waller was watching the situation unfold and scowled as she watched the Justice League confront Robertson. In hindsight, she should have known that the League would show up...actually, she was expecting it. But she wasn't expecting their "heavy hitters" to show up. And then there was the target, Jay Robertson. She knew the man was powerful, perhaps on par with a Kryptonian, but even she wasn't expecting him to hold his own against Galatea.

She had underestimated him and now the Justice League was involved. She had Eiling on the line, telling her to send reinforcements and asking for authorization to use other assets. She knew the bastard was just itching for a chance to use the two dozen Ulti-Men clones they had in reserve. But after seeing what Robertson had done to Galatea, Waller wasn't sure if unleashing the other clones wouldn't escalate things even further. The last thing CADMUS needed was to attract more public attention.

"We got media choppers coming into the area," a communications technician announced. "And a couple mobile news crews aren't far behind."

 _Damn...we can't risk exposure like this._

Waller keyed the headset she was wearing. "Eiling, pull back. Galatea, stand down and get out of there."

Eiling grudgingly complied, but no response came from the clone.

"Galatea?"

No response.

"Galatea...report in."

There was a sudden tremor and the facility shook for a second.

 _What the hell was that? An earthquake?_

"Ma'am," another technician reported. "We just got word from the front gate topside. It's Galatea...she just crash landed outside the front gate. They say her jaw is broken."

Waller's eyes widened at that announcement. _We really did underestimate Robertson,_ she thought. "Get Hamilton and a medical team up there right away."

"Yes, ma'am."

* * *

 _ **Coast City, California**_

"This isn't over, boy!" General Eiling's voice snarled over the helicopter's external speakers. Then the helicopter turned around and the rest of the CADMUS force started to pull out of the area, pausing only to pick up their wounded and load them up on vehicles before leaving.

Jay shook his head and spat at the ground. "Forty years later and he's still an asshole," he muttered.

"Jay," Diana said softly, "about what you said to him...would you have killed those soldiers?"

Jay studied the three heroes standing in front of him. He could tell that Superman and Batman weren't happy with his attitude, but the look in Diana's eyes were different...as if she was asking if he thought killing was truly necessary.

 _Then again, she does come from a warrior culture,_ he thought as he sighed and nodded. "Yeah, I would have. I know that's not the answer you were expecting and I can tell on the frowns of everyone's faces that's going to piss them off. But as far as CADMUS is concerned, I'm a rogue asset that has to be taken control of or permanently 'neutralized'. There is no middle ground, there is no compromise...I like living and they want me controlled or dead, end of discussion."

"That's not how we do things," Superman said.

"No," Jay said. "And it's a good thing I'm not part of the club."

"But we can't let you run around like this unchecked," Batman said. "What if CADMUS comes for you again in a heavily populated area? The resulting civilian casualties would play right in their hands and we would have to get involved as well."

Jay shook his head and chuckled. "Don't you think I know that, Batman? You're not the only one who had to learn how to look at all the angles of a situation. Remember who taught me."

"But Colonel Trevor's dead," Batman countered. "You don't have the protection he was able to give you when he was alive."

"Well, I'm certainly not going to ask your club for asylum and hide out on the Watchtower," Jay fired back.

Superman was about to say something when there was gust of wind before the pink-haired young woman wearing a leather jacket and goggles appeared next to Wonder Woman. "Um, I'm not sure why you wanted me to tag along," she said to Wonder Woman. "I know it was a last second call and all, but what am I supposed to do? I'm not a member, not a hero, and have no reason to be here..." Zoe's voice trailed off as she saw the shirtless Jay Robertson standing there with a shocked look on his face. "Um...who's the hot guy with the shocked look?"

"No," Jay said softly, shaking his head as if he was trying to snap out of a dream. "It can't be."

"Okay, why is he looking at me like that?" Zoe Kilmarten asked as she started to take a couple steps away from Jay who was starting to approach her.

Jay looked at Diana. "It really is her? Zoe Kilmarten?"

"Whoa, hold up there, Point-Break," Zoe said to the blond haired man. "How do you know me?"

Jay Robertson chuckled again. "Sorry, Zoe, I know it's been awhile...a long while...and I know this is hard to believe, but we do know each other. Well, at least we did. I knew you, David, Vi, Shiro, and some others of the SST crew. Hell, I barely had a chance to break in my new console system before I ended up here."

"Who are you?" Zoe asked. It was obvious this man knew more about her and things back home than she had revealed to the Justice League.

The man looked down at the ground and laughed softly. "Damn, now I know how David felt when he came to our home that day. Hard to believe that was so long ago." He then looked back up at Zoe. "And if you're here, that means I might be able to go home. As for who I am, I go by Jay Robertson here, but you knew me better as Jack Parr."

"No...fucking...way," Zoe said. "That's not possible. Jack Parr was about ten years old in our world."

"Yeah, well, I've been trapped in this world longer than you," Jack Parr said. "Let me guess, glowing portal thing, guys with guns, showing up in a fictional world?"

"Yeah, but I've only been here for less than a week," Zoe said. "How long have you been here?"

"Oh...about sixty years."

For several seconds, Zoe remained silent, a feat that actually surprised everyone there given her nature to chatter away on anything. Instead, she stood there, blinking a couple times as she tried to process what she was being told.

"Zoe, are you okay?" Supergirl asked as she walked up to her friend.

Flash appeared on the other side of Zoe and waved a hand in front of her face before he looked over at Jay/Jack. "I think you broke her."

Jack smirked at them and shook his head again. "Wait for it," he said.

Suddenly a few seconds later, Zoe seemed to snap out of it. "So, you're Jack, huh?" Then, a horrified look crossed her face as she remembered something else.

"Oh god! I called little Jack Parr 'hot'!"

* * *

 **CADMUS HEADQUARTERS  
**

 **Santa Fe, New Mexico**

Waller rubbed the bridge of her nose and could feel the beginning of a headache coming on. There would be a briefing in the next couple hours as they would all determine how to handle the fallout from this situation with Robertson. That was to be expected, of course, but she really didn't want to deal with Luthor giving her a smug "I told you so" look all through the briefing. She then looked at another screen that showed live feed monitoring of CADMUS' newest asset.

 _Speaking of smug looks..._

The red-haired prisoner sat in his chair in the middle of his cell, looking...well...bored. Unlike others who had been detained before him, he didn't show fear or concern, just a cold and detached expression. His eyes seemed a little unfocused, as if he were thinking about something and was oblivious to his surroundings.

 _He's been like that since we put him in that cell._

Suddenly, his head snapped up and he looked right at the camera, giving her a smirk. "Having a bad day, Director Waller?" he asked. "Did your super-powered bimbo just get her ass kicked?"

A chill went down Waller's spine.

 _He knows...but how?_

David Pine Flynn then stood up out of his chair and stretched out his arms, tilting his neck to one side until an audible pop was heard. "Now, then," he said, grinning at the camera, "let's make this a really bad day."

Then all the monitors displaying live video-feed of the prisoner suddenly went off-line.

"And now," David's voice echoed through the facility's com-system, "shall we begin?"


	13. And then it all goes to Hell III

Disclaimer: Justice League Unlimited, owned by DC/Warner Brothers. Aberrant owned by Onyx Publishing. Incredibles owned Pixar (though only Buddy Pine is mentioned in this). "Major Tom" originally written and performed by Peter Schilling (but I would suggest listening to the covers by the groups Shiny Toy Guns and Apoptygma Berzerk).

Author's Notes: Okay, this one had to be rewritten a couple times. Not sure if I'm happy with this, but hey, here it is. I want to thank everyone who has read this and feel free to review or leave threats and constructive criticism. General flames will be ignored.

And now, a few warnings. For those of you not familiar with my David Pine Flynn character, I will warn you … YES, he is powerful and NO, he is not a hero. He does have weaknesses. If he does come off as seeming a little powerful in this, it's because of his skills and abilities. For those of you who DO know who David Pine Flynn, you're going to see what I can only describe as David's darker side unleashed in this chapter. Then again, I think some of you have been waiting for that to happen.

And yes, there are some derogatory comments and violence against certain female characters in this chapter, but if any of you are familiar with these characters, I think you will find it all pretty much justifiable.

Oh, for those of you who like to have some music playing in the background while reading, I would like to suggest two songs. For the scene where David gives Waller a little background about his biological father, I would recommend the "Deus EX Human Revolution Purity First Soundtrack", it's a two minute short little instrumental piece that has a cool but sinister sound (just type that title in quotes on Youtube's search bar and you should find it easily). For David's general rampage, I would suggest the "Magneto" song from the X-Men First Class soundtrack.

* * *

 _Hell is empty and all the devils are here._

-William Shakespeare

* * *

 **CADMUS Headquarters**

 **Santa Fe, New Mexico**

"And now, shall we begin?"

The moment those words were spoken, Amanda Waller heard gun-fire and screams coming from over one of the com-channels.

BRRRRRRT!

" _Oh god, no!"_

" _Take the fucker out!"_

BRRRRRRRT!

" _Noo-aaargh!"_

BRRRRRRRT!

"AAAAAUGH!"

And then...silence.

"Dammit, someone re-establish video feed in there," Amanda snapped.

"I'm trying, ma'am," one of the technicians replied as he frantically tapped away on his keyboard. "But someone is locking us out of our own system."

"Can you access the prisoner's fail-safe trigger?"

"Yes."

"Then activate it at level seven. Fry the little shit, but don't kill him."

The tech complied and tapped in the activation code. "Fuck."

"What is it?"

"His fail-safe, it's offline."

"What?" Amanda felt her headache getting worse. "How is that possible? And who is hacking us?"

The young man kept tapping away. "I think I've tracked the source of the network breach." He suddenly looked up at Waller. "Um, ma'am, it's coming from Detention sector 7… and it's your authorization code."

"What the hell?" Amanda keyed the headset she was wearing. "Security to Sector 7, we have a confirmed breach. Get in there and neutralize the hostile."

One of the dormant screens suddenly flashed back to life to reveal David Pine Flynn standing outside of his containment cell in Sector 7 and smiling at the camera. "Hi there," he said, a cheerful tone in his voice. "Quick question for you: what happens when someone disables the IFF protocols to the automated security system? Answer: It turns the five guys guarding you into hamburger while you're standing by yourself in your bulletproof cell." He paused for a moment, an unfocused look in his eyes. "Oh … and it looks like you got about sixteen guys coming down the corridor armed with all sorts of assault gear … and damn, there go your IFF protocols again for the systems in that area.

More automatic gunfire followed by screams of dying security personnel once again filled the comm-channel for a couple seconds before silence fell.

Flynn pointed at the camera. "Their deaths are on you, Waller, not me."

Amanda keyed on the comm-system. "There is no escape, Flynn," she said. "Surrender or I will have my people put you down like a rabid dog."

The young man laughed and shook his head. "Oh, Director Waller, we both know that's a bunch of bullshit. As you no doubt know by now, I disabled your fail-safe and twenty of your guys just died trying to 'contain' me. If you kill me, then you end up with nothing. Personally, I don't like the idea of dying, but I'll make sure to take down as many of you as possible. It's only fair, after all." His amusement faded and he glared at the camera. "Think of it as repayment for what your people did to mine."

"You have no idea who you're dealing with, boy," Amanda warned. "This is not some organization like the Project Utopia group you're dealing with. We ARE the United States government, and we have assets and resources that will take you down."

Flynn laughed again. "Wow, you're really going to play the 'government intimidation' card on me? Damn, lady … I think you got it backwards. You're the one who doesn't know what they're dealing with." He paused for a moment, the unfocused look his face appearing again before he returned his attention to the camera. "Oh … I see now, you sent some people to do a limited recon mission on our world and basically did a data sweep of our world wide web to get a feel for the major players. Good idea … but your data is a little incomplete … especially when it comes to me."

Amanda hit the mute button for a moment and turned to one of her aides, a young US Air Force lieutenant. "Clear our security from that area and activate the Wild Cards." As the man hurried off to carry out her order, she released the mute button to resume her conversation with the prisoner. "And what's there to know about you, David Pine Flynn?" she asked. "You're the son of a disgraced industrialist weapons designer and you happen to be smart enough to hack our system. You're just an upstart punk that needs to be put down. We're in the business of dealing with monsters, and you hardly qualify."

"Monsters," Flynn repeated, a malicious gleam in his eye. Suddenly, the other two screens that were dormant flashed back to life to show the same video feed the first screen was showing. "You know nothing about monsters, let alone anything really important about me, but I'm going to enlighten you with some background information about myself.

"My biological father, Buddy Pine, now he was a monster. He would eat people like your Justice League for fucking breakfast and shit out what was left of them about ten minutes before lunchtime." The camera zoomed on Flynn as he spoke and the lights in Sector 7 seemed to dim a little. "He killed over a hundred and eighty-nine supers within a decade before he was stopped and those are just the ones we know about. A lot of people are afraid that the apple doesn't fall from the tree when it comes to me, and I don't blame them because I'm one of those people. I promised myself, I promised the world, that I would NEVER go down that path."

His face suddenly broke into an evil toothy grin and his eyes momentarily flashed a greenish color. "However, Director Waller, we're not in my world … I'm in yours. And after everything I've learned about you and experiencing your award-winning hospitality, I'm starting to think that maybe the people back home we're right about me."

"And what do you intend to do, boy?" Waller asked, hoping to keep the prisoner talking. Glancing at another monitor, she saw four members of the Wild Cards moving towards Flynn's location while the fifth member seemed to be making her way to the armory. If she could keep Flynn talking, she might be able to distract him enough so he could be taken by-

"I think I'll start by taking out the little super-powered strike team you're hoping will take me by surprise while I'm talking to you," Flynn said. He crouched down and picked up an assault rifle and an ammo belt from one of the dead guards. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to play a game of 'Royal Flush'." He winked at the camera and the three monitors he was on went black.

"Dammit," Amanda snarled. "Get me some video from down there."

"I've got access to most of the corridor cameras," the com-tech replied. The three dead monitors flashed back to life displaying live feed from the corridor cameras around Sector 7. "There we go. King, Queen, Jack, and Ten are there...and the prisoner is approaching them."

* * *

The four members of CADMUS' "Wildcards" team (formerly known as Joker's "Royal Flush" gang), stood there in the corridor as they watched their target casually stroll around the corner, an assault rifle slung over his shoulder. The leader of the group, a hot-headed energy projector codenamed "King", raised a glowing fist and pointed it at Flynn.

"Okay, asshole, playtime's over," King said.

Flynn stopped about twenty yards away from them and smiled. "Oh, look, it's the second stringers. Gotta' tell ya, the whole dressing up as playing cards thing … really lame."

"Give it up," Queen said as she waved an arm and several metal panels came off a nearby wall and began to float around her. "You can't take us all on."

"I won't have to," Flynn said, tilting his head to one side. "But I'll give you four one chance to walk away."

"C'mon, this is bullshit," Jack snarled. "Let's take him down." He lunged forward, the upper half of his body stretching as his arms formed into blade-like appendages.

A blast door suddenly slid down in front of Jack before he could reach Flynn, separating Flynn from the group. "Aw, c'mon," Flynn's voice echoed over the PA system. "Did you really think it was that easy?"

"You think that flimsy little door is going to stop us?" Ten laughed.

"Well, given the fact that it's built to withstand hits from the likes of Superman for a couple minutes, it should be enough," Flynn replied.

"But you seem to be overlooking one thing," Queen said as she brought both of her arms up and pointed them at the door. "That door is made of metal." As she spoke, the blast door began to buckle.

"Oh damn," Flynn chuckled. "I forgot about your magnetic abilities … or did I? Though to be honest, you're forgetting something."

The door ripped away, revealing Flynn standing there.

"Like what?" King asked, raising two glowing fists.

Flynn shuffled his feet and kicked something forward. "You all need to see your target."

The group looked down at the object Flynn had kicked forward just as it detonated, the bright light of the flash-bang blinding them. Then there was the sound of gunfire, followed by two people screaming.

"And two of you," Flynn continued, "are not bullet proof."

* * *

Ace calmly walked into the armory, ignoring the guard who was still standing there. It was a simple matter of altering his perception; as far as he was concerned, nothing was happening in his sector even though Ace was now opening the weapons vault using the code she had gotten from his mind. The door opened and she saw several identical devices that used to instill fear in her, but now merely brought her unpleasant memories that she shoved back into the darkest recesses of her mind. She grabbed one of the control bands off the wall and couldn't help smiling at the irony as she calibrated it.

 _For once,_ she thought, _these will be used for something good for a change._

* * *

Back in the command center, Waller and the others gathered there watched in shock as Flynn jogged down a corridor while the two surviving members of the Wildcards team recovered from the effects of the flash-bang grenade. For a moment, Amanda was starting to recall the conversation she had with Lawton a few days ago right after they had captured Flynn.

" _ **I saw the look on his face, Waller, especially in his eyes. You may think we have him under control, but we don't. He's a wounded animal in a cage and I'm telling you, he's one of those wounded animals that will bite your fucking hand off when he gets the chance."**_

 _Dammit, Lawton was right. The little bastard got out of his cage, but Flynn's right as well … what he knows is too valuable. If we kill him, we get nothing … and then I will have to once again face the damn committee about why we have yielded no results in this project._

"He just bypassed the code on the stairwell entrance to sector seven," the technician, whose last name was Simms, announced. "I have no clue how he's doing it … it's like he's rigged a remote connection and is somehow able to hack pieces of our system. Wait, hold on." He paused for a moment as he looked at the small monitor on his desk relaying various network data. "Whoa."

"What is it now?" Amanda asked.

"It looks like he's accessing information on two locations."

"Which ones?"

"He seems to be looking for the most direct route to Sector 42."

 _Of course,_ Amanda thought, _that's where we're keeping his weapons … but how did he find that out so quickly? "_ And the other location?"

Simms shook his head in confusion. "He's looking for Med-Lab 4 … not sure why though."

Amanda's eyes widened when she recognized the location. "That's Hamilton's primary lab. That little shit is going after Galatea."

* * *

Ten and Jack looked down at their two dead teammates. While Jack looked like he was about to throw up, it wasn't out of any form of sorrow for the two; he just never saw someone missing the upper half of their head before. Although, in his opinion, Jack felt that was never a vital organ when it came to King.

 _But having your brains splattered over a wall does tend to kill a person,_ he thought.

Ten knelt down by Queen and shook his head. "Damn," he said, "AP rounds right through her chest, shredded her heart. Didn't think she had one."

Jack, despite himself, barely managed to stifle a snicker. "Well, we know he can't hurt us with the weapons he's got."

Ten, though he was the so called "strong-man/Brick" of the group, shook his head. While he was not the brightest, he had enough strategic and tactical sense to realize that he shouldn't underestimate an enemy (a lesson learned after having it literally pounded into him by Superman in Las Vegas). "Wouldn't be too sure of that Jack," he said. "He took two of us down and now he's running loose through the compound getting his 'Die-Hard' on."

"Ten, Jack, what is your status?" Waller's voice asked over the earpieces each team member wore.

"King and Queen are dead, but we're still here," Ten replied. "But we lost the target."

"He's using the stairwells to access the levels of the facility and is currently making his way to sector 42. We've managed to maintain control the elevators and you should be able to use them to get there before he does." The Director's voice became more urgent as she spoke. "Do NOT let him access the device in 42."

"Or what," Jack quipped, "you'll trigger our kill-switch and terminate us?"

"If Flynn recovers that device, it won't be necessary," Waller countered.

"Oh shit, that bad, huh?" Jack then clasped his hands together and glanced at Ten. "Good thing he's only armed with guns and grenades at the moment, then. You take the elevator and I'll follow him down the stairwell. He's not super-fast and I can catch up with him."

"Careful, Jack," Ten warned. "This piece of shit seems trickier than our usual targets."

* * *

Amanda watched the various monitors as the facility cameras kept tracking Flynn's progress. He would occasionally look up at a camera and grin before it would flicker out and the feed would cut off. "I would really like to know how he's doing that," she mused out loud.

"Still not sure, ma'am," Simms replied. "Whatever kind of remote connection he's established … it's pretty much enabling him to hack our system almost at will. He seems to be able to breach our firewalls, but then then he gets cut off when the system reconfigures new ones." The young man then frowned as he looked at his screen. "The only problem is that he's able to keep knocking down the new firewalls. All we're doing is just stalling him … it's almost as if … holy shit."

Amanda turned to look at Simms and saw the shocked look on his face. "What is it?"

"Ma'am, do you know if he's a metahuman of some sort?"

"According to our intel, he possesses an enhanced super intelligence."

"Super intelligence?" Simms repeated. "Well, his super intelligence is allowing him to hack our system at a speed that would put most super-computers to shame. It's like we're dealing more with an artificial intelligence...like Braniac."

"Congratulations," Flynn's voice echoed over the speakers in the command center. "It took you long enough." He then let out an audible sigh. "Y'know, for a shady government organization that has all this power, your lack of intelligence is only exceeded by your even bigger lack of imagination. Out of all the people in your little brain trust that you keep on your payroll, it's the community college drop-out that you blackmailed into working for you that figured it out."

"Hey, uncool," Simms snapped as he kept typing on his keyboard and trying to set up new firewall algorithms. "That college didn't have anything to offer me." He then let out a triumphant "Ha!" as he it the enter key. "Eat this, asshole."

The power flickered for a moment and there was confusion in Flynn's voice. "What did you do?" Then he chuckled. "Oh...you clever bastard," he said, true praise in his voice. "You put most of the automated security system in a time-locked diagnostic mode. I could break your encryption, but I can't waste time on it. It really sucks that you're on the wrong side, but I want to let you know I'm truly sorry for this."

"For what?" Simms asked. Then his eyes widened in shock as he saw a warning icon flash on his screen. He barely had time to raise his arms to shield himself as this terminal screen exploded. The tiny explosion threw him back about ten feet, sending him flying over the terminal station behind his before he landed on the floor in an unconscious and bleeding heap.

"That," Flynn replied. "You should be thankful, Waller. I'm letting him live. Just imagine what would have happened if I activated the self-destruct protocols in that entire bank of terminals there."

"Then why haven't you?" Amanda asked. "You could have taken us all out here."

"That's a good question, Director. Tell me, have you found an answer?"

"I have two, actually. One, you're not as powerful as you seem or, more likely, you don't have the nerve."

Flynn's soft cruel chuckle echoed through the command center again; there was something in it that actually sent a shiver down Amanda's spine that told her she might have said the wrong thing. "Oh, Waller, I can't believe you have forgotten what I told you earlier. I don't want to kill you, I want to fucking crucify you and I want the whole goddamn world to see it. Consider what's about to happen to be the first nail."

All seven of the major viewing screens in the command center suddenly started to display the footage of Wild Cards member Jack entering the turbine fan chamber below Sector 42.

"The following event may include coarse language, graphic imagery, death, dismemberment and other things that may not be suitable for all audiences," Flynn's voice continued. "Viewer discretion is advised. Otherwise, enjoy the show."

* * *

Jack shivered slightly as he exited the stairwell and looked out at the expanse of cat-walks and pipes before him. Below the catwalks he could see massive fans below him, blowing at various speeds.

 _Damn it's cold in here,_ he thought. _It's gotta' be below freezing._

He hated the cold, partially because he grew up in Florida, but also because it tended to mess with his stretching abilities. As it was, he could feel his limbs stiffen a little.

 _Can't stay here too long, it's damn uncomfortable. At least I can still stretch and shift and the bastard's only armed with an assault rifle and a couple grenades; those aren't going to do anything to me. All I gotta' do is find the shit and rip his fucking head off, job done._

"It's kind of cool, actually, this whole set-up, I mean, not the really bad pun." Flynn's voice echoed through the area. "You got this whole damn coolant system on this level that flushes this stuff straight down to the facility's main server core. I understand it gets pretty hot down there."

"Yeah, well, don't enjoy it too much," Jack yelled back. He stretched and moved along a catwalk platform before slithering along a length of pipe and jumping off to another section of catwalk. "Waller still wants us to take you alive despite the fact you killed two of our team."

"Yeah," Flynn replied, "but that doesn't bother you much, doesn't it, Johnny."

Jack stopped in his tracks when he heard that name, his eyes narrowing as he tried to pinpoint the source of Flynn's voice. "No one's called me that in a long time," he half snarled.

"Can't imagine why," Flynn countered. "Johnny Lassiter, son of a pair of career criminals, got quite a record of your own. Hell, you allegedly murdered someone when you were fifteen which brought you to CADMUS' attention."

"Hey, I was proven innocent of that. There was no evidence."

"True, but I really don't care about your murderous tendencies," Flynn said. "It's the child molestation charges that make me vomit. Again, you got out from under those as well. So tell me, Johnny-boy...did it hurt when you looked at Queen or Ace and realized that you couldn't touch either of them without getting killed? Oh, how it must have pained you, a psychotic pervert and pedophile...to be so close to forbidden fruit that you couldn't touch."

"Shut up!" Jack yelled, lashing out, his arm stretching out ten feet and slashing at where he guessed Flynn was hiding. Instead, he found himself getting an electric shock from the small control terminal he had destroyed. "If you were a man, come out and face me," he yelled.

"That's what this is all about, isn't it, Johnny?" Flynn continued. "You sound like someone who had an abusive father who probably beat the hell out of and did God knows what to you while telling you to 'be a man and take it'. That's why you target others you think as weak."

"You don't know anything!"

"Oh, but I do, it's all in your profiles. Ten's overconfidence, King's arrogance, Queen's sociopath tendencies, and of course your daddy issues and your penchant for doing things to little children."

Jack let out another scream and lashed out again, slicing a section of shadowy catwalk he assumed where Flynn was hiding, sending the debris falling into the fans down below. "SHUT THE FUCK UP!"

For several seconds, there was silence. Jack stalked over to where the section of catwalk had been cut away and saw a bit of yellow cloth that he recognized belonging to the prison uniforms CADMUS detainees wore. He smiled wickedly and looked down at the high-strength alloy fan blades spinning below. "Well, Flynn, not so tough, were you?"

Suddenly, a release valve vented from the pipes above Jack, spraying him with several gallons of liquid nitrogen. He barely had time to start to scream before his body froze solid, a terrified expression permanently frozen on his face.

Flynn dropped down from the network of pipes in the ceiling and landed behind Jack. "And you, Jack," he said, "just aren't bright at all." He approached the frozen metahuman and stopped close enough so he could talk softly in Jack's ear. "I know you're still alive in there somewhere and, in theory, you could survive this if I gave you time to thaw out. I gave you four the chance to walk away and I would have let you, despite your history; but I also knew none of you were smart enough to take that offer. And, when it comes to people like you, I don't generally give them second chances." He stepped back and executed a roundhouse kick that caught the frozen Jack in the stomach, shattering the metahuman into frozen bloody fragments that fell into the giant cooling fans below.

"Rest in pieces, you sick son of a bitch."

"Impressive," a new voice echoed through the room.

Flynn turned and looked in the direction of the voice and saw Ten standing outside the elevator doors to the floor. "Ah...so Derek Jackson Hall makes his appearance."

Ten shrugged off the fact that Flynn spoke his identity out publicly. "Nice try, Flynn," he said as he slowly started to make his way across one of the catwalks towards Flynn's location. "Unlike the others, I'm not ashamed of who I am and, honestly, the psychological bullshit of going through my past or my psychological profile doesn't bother me none." He paused for a moment and glanced down at the fans below them. "Damn," he muttered, looking back up at Flynn, "I knew the little shit was gonna' get himself iced, but wasn't counting on it being literally and figuratively. I gotta' admit, you're damn good."

Flynn smiled and nodded. "Thank you," he said. "And I have to admit that I'm impressed that you aren't coming off like the egotistical prick of a strongman I was expecting you to be."

Ten couldn't help chuckling. "That's you're game, isn't it?" he asked. "Sure, you talk a lot of shit, but I can see it in your eyes; you're looking at all the angles, assessing the situation, trying to figure out how best to knock your enemy off his game. You played the four of us, set us up, took down two of our number and, honestly, I suspect you intended for the remaining two to split up and pick us off one by one. Just one question though."

Flynn arched an eyebrow in curiosity. "Only one?"

"Yeah, how were you able to take Queen out so easily? I mean, I've seen her stop bullets before."

"Simple enough," Flynn replied. "She was still hauling away the remains of the blast door when I activated the flash-bang. She didn't have time to react and refocus on her defense. The files on you all were VERY thorough, especially when it came to weaknesses. Her major weakness is that she was easily distracted."

Ten cracked his knuckles and grinned. "Well then," he said, "that is your problem. I don't have any weaknesses." He then resumed walking towards Flynn who still didn't move. "No offense, man, but I don't think you can calculate your way out of this one."

Flynn returned Ten's grin. "I won't have to," he said. "I'm sure you've figured out that I've jacked into your systems here, correct?"

"Well yeah," Ten admitted. "It's kind of cool actually, but what would good will that do against me ..." he paused in mid-sentence as the realization hit him. "Oh shit."

Those were his last words before the nanite explosives implanted at the base of his skull exploded, ripping his head off and sending his now headless body falling into the fan blades below. Unlike Jack's body, Ten's didn't get hacked to pieces. Instead, because of his outer toughness and reinforced musculature (enabling him to trade blows with Superman), it actually jammed the one fan it fell into and shattered the blades. Flynn smiled as he jumped off the catwalk and fell through the hole Ten's body created.

He landed in the area beneath the fans and shivered a bit as he made his way to a maintenance hatch that would allow him to access to Sector 42.

* * *

"We lost him," announced another technician who had taken over Simms' duties while a couple medics took the unconscious programmer out on a stretcher. "The cameras in that area have been shut down."

"What about those in the Lab?"

"Still online. Security personnel are in the area and all the scientific personnel have been evacuated."

"The automated defenses?"

"Still stuck in diagnostic mode."

"Well, that's a relief," Amanda muttered. "At least we don't have to worry about him jacking in and taking our people out that way."

"Oh, but there are so many other options here, Waller," Flynn's voice announced over the PA system. "Funny thing about this place you got here … so many things to choose from, so many ways to fuck you over. I feel like a little kid with a hundred bucks and let loose in a candy store."

"You certainly act like one," muttered Simms' replacement.

"Oh, you replaced your injured programmer, I see." Flynn's voice almost sounded friendly. "So, new guy, got a name? Or should I call you Simms 2.0."

"Lieutenant Jenkins, United States Air Force."

"Wow," Flynn chuckled. "So serious and professional, Lieutenant Jenkins of the United States Air Force. You military types...damn...do they drill the life out of you before they turn you into a drone?"

"No, they regulate it," Jenkins shot back. "We're the Air Force, not the Borg."

"Oooh, pop culture Star Trek reference and a sense of humor, I like it. Okay, Jenkins, you can stay. You're not as good as Simms, but the way you're trying to bypass me on the network tells me that you can talk and hack at the same time. You are actually competent."

"Gee, thanks," Jenkins deadpanned. He then glanced up at Waller. "He's accessed the maintenance crawl-spaces and disabled most of surveillance in that area. But if he's going to 42, I hope you got some heavy hitters there."

"Jenkins, c'mon man," Flynn scoffed, "I just killed Waller's little pet super team and slaughtered a bunch of guards. Of course she's going to have some heavy hitters or at least some personnel with very heavy ordinance … not that it will do her any good."

"What do you want now, Flynn?" Amanda asked, her irritation bleeding through. "Or are you just gloating?"

"Well, while I must confess that I am gloating a little, my real reason is to give you a chance to save some lives. Most of those guys you got down there are just grunts doing their jobs. I know you suspect that I might have a dirty trick up my sleeve, and you're right." Flynn's voice became more serious, all traces of amusement vanishing. "One chance, Waller, pull those guys out of the lab or you'll be responsible for more deaths; it's your call."

"And then what?"

"I reclaim what is mine, then I kill your little science project clone of Supergirl, get the hell out of this little shithole, and make plans to resume crucifying your carcass on the world stage."

"Not gonna' happen," Amanda stated flatly.

Flynn sighed again. "Oh well, it was worth a try," he said. "Don't let it be said I never tried to negotiate and avoid further collateral losses." Then his voice took a darker tone. "Then again, collateral losses are considered 'acceptable' by your standards, aren't they, Director Waller?"

"Oh god," Jenkins muttered, "I'm getting energy spikes in Sector 42."

Amanda looked at a couple of the main display screens that showed security feed of the lab in Sector 42. She could see several heavily armed security personnel in the area, surrounding the small containment unit that held Flynn's energy gauntlets. Then there was a bright flash accompanied by what sounded like an explosion and screams of the security personnel over the unit's comm-channel.

And then, for several seconds, silence.

The three primary monitors in the Command Center suddenly switched over to the feed coming from Sector 42 where Flynn was now standing in the middle of the room and sliding the glowing gauntlets onto his forearms. Debris and dismembered bodies surrounded him and he seemed somewhat oblivious to the destruction as he locked the second gauntlet into place.

"You do realize, Amanda," Flynn said, barely glancing in the direction of the camera before tapping a couple buttons on his right gauntlet, "I did give you a chance to call your guards off. Their deaths, like those of everyone else I have killed in this facility, are on you."

"You will be stopped," Amanda said. "You will not get out of here alive."

Flynn laughed again. "Waller, do you really mean that? After all the trouble you went through to bring me here? After all the money spent, after all the lives you've sacrificed, you're actually going to admit defeat and kill me?" He smirked at the camera and held up one of the glowing gauntlets that began to hum ominously. "It's too bad you didn't come to that conclusion earlier."

* * *

Doctor Emil Hamilton tried to keep his tone as professional as possible, but there was still concern in his voice when he addressed the young woman who was standing in a chamber beneath several heat-lamps designed to mimic the rays from Earth's sun.

"How do you feel?"

The blond haired woman managed a weak smile as she reached up to feel her jaw. "Pretty much healed up," she replied. "I didn't know Robertson was that strong."

"Neither did we," Hamilton confessed. "But we now have another problem."

Galatea could hear the concern in the voice of the man she looked at as a father figure. "Okay, old man, what's going on?"

"Are you able to fly?"

Galatea was confused by the question. "Um, yeah. I'm almost back to a hundred percent here, why?"

"Then listen carefully, you need to leave, now?"

"What? Why?" There was a slight tremor in the facility and the lab shook, causing some equipment to fall off a couple tables. That's when Galatea saw the fear in the old man's eyes. "Dad," she asked, "what's going on?"

"That young man you brought back from your last mission, he escaped, and he's coming here … after you."

For a moment, Galatea shuddered in fear as she flashed back to her confrontation with what she had mistakenly assumed would be an easy target. "How?"

"We're not quite sure, but he killed the Royal Flush gang and most of the personnel sent to contain him. He's after you, you need to run, now!"

For a moment, Galatea considered taking the old man's advice and getting the hell out of there. But then, an odd thought crossed her mind. Supergirl would never run, even if she was outmatched.

 _But you're not her._

No, she wasn't. But if she ran, what would that make her? A coward?

 _Maybe, but cowards aren't all stupid._

But if she fled, what would happen to the people she left behind. Da-er … Doctor Hamilton told her Flynn had pretty much killed everyone sent his way. That meant the one person she cared about would be at risk.

 _Dammit, you're right._

Then she heard another voice in her head that was separate from her thoughts.

 _ **Galatea …**_

That voice sounded familiar.

 _ **This is Ace …**_

Ace, that creepy little girl who was part of the Royal Flush gang? So they weren't all killed.

 _ **No, I am still alive and I am with Deadshot and Colonel Flagg. I am contacting you telepathically because Flynn can jack into all electronics. He is on his way towards your location.**_

 _Um, yeah, I know that … you're a little late with that update._

 _ **We need you to keep Flynn occupied while we make our way to your location.**_

 _Okay, but I didn't do well last time and I doubt he's going to let himself get shot in the back again._

 _ **You just need to buy us a few more minutes and we will be in position.**_

The room shook again and one of the walls began to crack.

 _Well, you better hurry up! Because I think he just arrived._

The door at the far end of Hamilton's lab exploded, the shock wave knocking aside several tables and pieces of heavy equipment. Galatea barely managed to get in front of Hamilton and block a piece of machinery that would have seriously injured or killed the man if it had connected.

David Flynn stood in the now demolished entrance to the lab, his body surrounded by a faint glowing energy field that levitated him a few inches off the ground. "Hi there," he said, giving her a big toothy grin. "Can I interest you in the subject of the afterlife and the Kingdom of Heaven?" Then he shook his head. "No … wait, I forgot, Watchtower has a whole different meaning here." He suddenly brought an arm up and a bolt of blue-white energy lanced out in her direction.

Galatea grabbed Hamilton and zipped past Flynn at super-speed. She didn't stop until she reached one of the stairwell entrances on their level, ripped off the security door and pushed Hamilton into the stairwell.

"That's right, run," Flynn's voice echoed through the now evacuated corridors. "That's about all you're good at these days."

"Go," she told Hamilton. "Get topside and keep going."

"But what about you?" Hamilton asked, his face etched with concern. "He'll kill you."

"No, he won't. So please … daddy, just go," she pleaded.

Reluctantly, Hamilton nodded and started to go up the stairs that led to the upper levels.

"Aww...such a tender moment." Galatea turned around and saw Flynn standing at the far end of the corridor, still floating a few feet off the ground. "So heartrending," the young man snickered. "Almost … what's that word I'm looking for … oh yeah!" He snapped his fingers. "Almost heroic!"

"More than you," Galatea snapped back at him. "You killed a bunch of people, and for what? Just to get at me?"

The humor on Flynn's face faded and was placed by cold hatred. "Oh, I'm just getting started, bitch. You came to my world, trashed my home, KILLED people I consider family, just to get me. I would say I'm just paying you back, but I tend to pay back my enemies with interest due especially when I've taken a peek at what they're doing. If I didn't hate you so much, I'd almost feel sorry for you. Because, after all, you're just," he gave her an evil smile, "a puppet."

"Fuck you!" Galatea charged him, throwing a punch that would have ripped his head off … if blow hadn't rebounded off the field surrounding him and sending her flying back several feet.

Flynn shook his head and clicked his tongue as he floated towards her. "You didn't learn from the last time we fought, did you?" he asked rhetorically. "Luckily, I did, so I managed to channel a quantum field around my body that allows me to withstand taking blows from you. Granted, I can't throw you around like a rag-doll as I did last time, but it does allow me to do other cool shit, like this."

Flynn dropped to the ground and raised both arms, the field surrounding his body suddenly shifting to a red haze before twin beams erupted from Flynn's gauntlets. The beams hit Galatea squarely in the chest. She was momentarily blinded by the blasts, but her vision instantly cleared. Then Galatea realized that she was still standing and was unharmed by the energy blasts while the field surrounding Flynn had completely disappeared.

"Well, damn," Flynn muttered, a confused look on his face. "That was rather anti-climactic, don't you think?"

Galatea wasn't one to look a gift horse in the mouth. She lunged at him again, knowing that a full strength hit on him at this close of a range with no protection would probably kill him, but she didn't care.

Needless to say she was shocked when Flynn caught her fist and grinned at her. "Oh, by the way, I had my ZP gauntlets emulate the radiation of a red sun and shot you up with enough energy to power you down for … well … about fifteen minutes." He suddenly pulled on her hand as he brought up a knee that caught her in the stomach, knocking the wind out of her. He then caught her by the hair, preventing her from falling to the floor. "But I'll only need three." He followed up with a solid punch to her face, the impact knocking her backward and sending her sprawling to the floor."

Galatea tried to get up, but was rewarded with a kick to her ribs that sent her rolling a few feet down the corridor.

"It's funny when you think about it," Flynn continued as he casually walked towards the clone. "We're both genetically engineered life forms, but you are just a clone of some alien chick who gets a funky high with benefits from a yellow sun. Me, I was engineered to be something you're not."

"And what might that be?" Galatea snapped as she scrambled back to her feet. "An egotistical douche-bag?"

Flynn paused for a moment as he considered that possibility. "Among other things," he admitted. "But you, you're just a pathetic copy that falls way short of the original. Take away the yellow sunlight, you're just another baseline human."

Galatea immediately fell back on her training, delivering a combination of punches, kicks, and a couple nerve strikes only to be countered at every turn and surprised by Flynn when he suddenly lashed out, caught her by the throat, and started to lift her up off the ground.

"Here, let me dumb it down for you," he growled. "I. Am. BETTER. Than. You." Flynn's grip started to tighten and Galatea found herself actually gasping for breath as he lifted her higher off the ground, her hands feebly struggling to break his grip. "This must be new for you," Flynn said casually, "gasping for breath and feeling your world spinning into complete and final darkness. I have to admit, this is kind of cathartic for me, though part of me wishes it was the fat cow of a director you answer to." He shook his head again. "Nah, on second thought, I'd probably end up giving myself a hernia lifting something that heavy."

"NO!"

Flynn dropped Galatea to the floor as he moved to deflect an attack. Galatea was still gasping for breath, taking in as much air as possible as Flynn staggered from whoever attacked him. Galatea looked up and saw Doctor Hamilton standing there with a crowbar. "Get the hell away from her!"

Flynn rolled back on his feet and looked at his new opponent. "Oh, look, some heroic middle-aged scientist guy with a beard, glasses, a crowbar, and a heroic death wish."

Hamilton charged forward swinging the crowbar, letting out a scream full of rage. Flynn merely stepped into the blow, catching Hamilton by the arm and headbutting the man in the face. The doctor collapsed to the ground in a heap while Flynn took the crowbar out of his grasp.

"Gordon Freeman you clearly are not." Flynn twirled the crowbar in his hand once before suddenly turning around and hit Galatea in the side of the head with it, knocking her back to the floor. "Bitch, I didn't say you can get up." He then chuckled softly as he looked down at the unconscious Doctor Hamilton. "Ah yes, Doctor Emil Hamilton, the guy who created Galatea. You two actually care for each other, don't you? After all, you told him to run, but he came to save you? Well now, this changes everything."

Flynn glanced back at Galatea who was still trying to get up.

"Y'know something, Galatea, I just realized that killing you wouldn't be enough. I mean, there you are, all powerless, and the one person you care about is unconscious only a handful of feet away." Flynn twirled the crowbar again and grinned as he gave the crowbar a loving caress. "It makes sense, after all. You killed members of MY family, I'll kill the only one of yours and you can lie there helplessly and watch."

He raised the crowbar over his head. "Time to play 'whack-a-mole'!"

Suddenly, he dropped the crowbar and clutched his head as he collapsed to his knees. "AUUUUUUUUUUUUGH!"

His scream echoed down the corridor as Galatea looked up to see Ace standing there, her eyes glowing as she focused her attention on Flynn. "Now," she said.

Deadshot ran past Ace, the control band in his hand and quickly slapped it on Flynn's head while the young man thrashed around on the ground from Ace's psionic attack.

And then, just like that, it was over. Flynn stopped thrashing around and was in an induced semi-comatose state. Colonel Flagg went over to help Doctor Hamilton while Deadshot checked on Galatea.

"You okay, 'Tea?" Deadshot asked.

"Lawton," Galatea managed to pull herself up and lean against a wall, "I may not like you, but I am glad to see you."

"Don't move, we'll get some guys to take you topside and get some rays from outside to heal you up."

"Cool," Galatea said, wincing slightly. "I'll just sit here and wait." Though it took some painful effort on her part, she pointed at Flynn's unconscious form. "Please tell me we're going to kill that fucker."

Floyd Lawton shook his head. "Sorry, kid, but the Director sees him as more of an invaluable asset now than ever. We're going to keep him on ice like this until Doctor Moon figures out how to go through that bastards brain."

"It's not worth it," Galatea said, her voice more than a whisper. "He's not human, not a meta-human, he's an animal."

"I know that, kid," Lawton said, nodding in agreement, "but it's not our call to make.

* * *

A few hours later, a bandaged up Emil Hamilton was in Waller's office, giving her his report.

"According to Doctor Moon and Jenkins, Flynn appears to have the ability they have termed 'Cyberkinesis' or 'Technopathy'," Hamilton said as he handed Waller a data-pad containing the research on David Flynn. "For all intents and purposes, he can affect and take control of any form of electronic technology the way Ace can affect and control the human mind. That's how he was able to break into our facility at will, by mentally linking up with it."

Sitting behind her desk, Amanda shuddered slightly as she took a sip from her coffee mug. "Are we sure he's secure now?" she asked.

"Definitely," Hamilton assured her. "Aside from the psionic control band, Ace managed to put him in a comatose state which we are able to easily keep him in with all the various sedatives and other chemical cocktails we have going through his system. Doctor Moon is convinced that we can hook Flynn to an isolated system and, as he put it, 'hack through Flynn's brain'."

"Interesting, and what's the status of Galatea?"

"Galatea, after a couple hours exposure to sunlight from outside and the sunlamps here in the facility, was able to make a full recovery," reported Hamilton. "The remains of the Royal Flush gang are currently in the morgue. It may be possible to get some viable genetic samples from three of the bodies. Unfortunately, it's going to be awhile before the clean-up crew manages to mop up what's left of Jack after he thawed out."

"It's still a mess," Amanda said, shaking her head. "We underestimated him, Emil. I underestimated him."

"Well, to be fair, Amanda, we're only human. You couldn't have known that he could mentally link up with computer networks. We're just fortunate that Simms and Jenkins figured it out and managed to block him as long as they did." Emil involuntarily shuddered. "I hate to think what would have happened if he had gotten out."

"We dodged a bullet, Emil. But right now, I want Flynn kept down there in Sector 9 with Doctor Moon and I want you to figure out how to unlock those gauntlets of his. I don't care who you need or what kind of resources you request, but I want you to decrypt those damn things and, at the very least, shut them down before he can take control of them again." That was when she saw Hamilton smile. "Why are you suddenly happy?"

"Oh, that's something I also wanted to tell you," Hamilton replied. "Flynn had the gauntlets still in active mode when Ace took him down."

"Okay, so what?"

Hamilton's smile widened. "He never had chance to lock them back into stand-by mode … we can now access the data on the gauntlets' control console."

* * *

Ace, the only surviving member of the Royal Flush gang looked through the observation window at the containment chamber that held David Flynn. Thanks to her psionic attack and the control band, Flynn was now in an induced coma and would stay that way until Doctor Moon began to work on him.

The young woman mentally went through the day's events and, from the display she had seen, David Flynn did appear to be monster. She could feel the fear coming from most of the base personnel when they realized how close this man had come to destroying them. After all, he killed several heavily armed personnel, beat the hell out of Galatea, and killed the other four members of the Royal Flush gang.

Ace wondered if she would feel any pain, sadness, or even anger at the death of her former teammates. However, she was not surprised when she barely felt anything. But that was almost expected since they didn't care much for her. To King, Queen, and Ten, she was a scary kid with too much power. To Jack … she shuddered as she remembered some of the disturbing images she had seen in that man's mind; he may have been scared of her, but he also had some warped and twisted fantasies about her that made her sick.

And then there was Flynn himself. She had been in his head, she had seen ALL of his memories, and she knew what he was capable of. She also knew that he cared very much for his friends and family. Hell, he barely knew her, but he actually cared about her even after he looked at CADMUS' files on her. Flynn didn't see her as a weapon or some psychotic asset; he only saw a girl who was trapped in a life she didn't want and raised in a living hell.

 _And what better way to destroy hell then to unleash a demon from within its very walls._

She allowed herself a faint smile before turning and walking away, humming a long to the tune of a song she never heard before.

A song not from this Earth, but from the other one.

 _Earth below us …_

 _Drifting, falling_

 _Floating weightless_

 _calling...calling home..._


	14. And then it all goes to Hell IV

_**Disclaimer:**_ Aberrant, owned by Onyx Publishing and White Wolf. Justice League Unlimited and other properties owned by DC comics and Warner Brothers. "Who Are You?" owned by The Who.

Author's Note: Okay, just a quick "filler" chapter. As usual, feedback is appreciated.

* * *

 _"Power does not corrupt. Fear corrupts... perhaps the fear of a loss of power."  
_ -John Steinbeck _  
_

* * *

 _ **CADMUS Headquarters**_

 _ **Santa Fe, New Mexico**_

"So let me get this straight, Director Waller. Your people at CADMUS succeeded in reverse engineering an alien device that allowed you access to a parallel Earth?"

Waller kept her tone neutral as she looked at the US Senator seated at the end of the other side of the large circular table. "I do believe I covered that in our previous meeting, Senator Kinsey," she said. "And no, it was not the Earth from where the Justice Lords originated from. In fact, there was no version of the Justice League on that world."

"No, but you did confirm they had their own meta-humans and they had technology that was, at least according to the intel provided by some of your agents, on par or even a little ahead of our own."

"Yes."

"And you decided it would be best to acquire one of these world's metas."

"I don't appreciate your tone, Senator," Amanda said, narrowing her eyes at the man. "And if I recall correctly, you were one of the people who were more than willing to authorize this operation if it meant acquiring advanced technology." She tapped a couple keys on the console in front of her and a 3D holographic image of Flynn's gauntlets appeared above the table. "I assume you've all read the reports and seen the video footage regarding Flynn's gear. These gauntlets alone allowed him to go one on one with Galatea, even depowering her at one point."

"Oh, I've seen the footage and read all the reports," Kinsey said. "I'm more interested in how, WITHOUT his gauntlets, he was able to bypass YOUR security systems at will, kill over a hundred personnel including your little resident super team, and nearly revealed our operation to the public."

For a moment, Amanda glared at the senator, resisting the urge to pull out her .45 and put a bullet in the man's head. Apparently, there was something in her expression that had the man starting to fidget a little as he realized he might be poking the proverbial bear with a stick. "I won't deny it," Amanda finally said, "we did not have full intel on Flynn's abilities. We were given to understand that he possessed a heightened intelligence, but we did not realize he was able to mentally link with electronic devices at will, including our own network."

At that revelation, the gathered scientists, business leaders, congressmen, and military officers attending the meeting began to murmur amongst themselves. Amanda could hear snippets of their conversations and could see the sudden looks of concern and horror on most of their faces. The two notable exceptions were General Eiling and Lex Luthor; Luthor seemed to have a thoughtful look on his face while Eiling, oddly enough, and a grin on his face like a child who felt Christmas had come early.

 _No doubt thinking of possibly using the boy as an asset,_ Amanda thought. Of course, she was thinking the same thing but was starting to rule against that idea. _It would depend if we can keep him controlled, but I'm starting to think that Lawton might have had the right idea. Unless, of course, Moon can find a way to control the little shit the way we control Ace._

After a couple seconds, it was Luthor who cleared his throat and spoke up first. "I'm assuming you were able to contain him, since you are here and conducting this briefing."

"Yes, and we've taken measures to keep him in a medically induced coma while Doctor Moon works on a controlled interface device that will allow us to get what we want out of the prisoner. I can assure you, everyone, that David Flynn will not be able to make the same attempt again."

"That's good," Kinsey muttered, "because I don't think you can afford that kind of attrition on a regular basis."

"Is there something you'd like to get off your chest, Senator Kinsey?" Amanda asked.

This time, Kinsey shrugged off the cold glare Amanda threw at him. "Actually, yeah, there is," he nodded, "I'm concerned about other 'loose ends' tied to this project."

"Such as?"

"Out of the four teams we sent to this other 'Earth', only one has returned. We have not heard from any of the other teams, but I have heard and read confirmed reports that suggest this David Flynn is not the only person from this other Earth." The senator tapped on the small embedded keyboard on his section of the table and the holographic image of Flynn's gauntlets were replaced by three other images, a pink haired young woman and two men wearing orange jumpsuits that prison inmates wore. "One of these 'visitors' is in the custody of the Justice League and the other two are currently locked up in Arkham Asylum."

"Yes, Senator, and we are intending to deal with those loose ends as we speak."

"Really, Waller?" Kinsey's voice was laden with skepticism as he spoke. "Because I don't see how you can get that pink haired freak loose from the Justice League, let alone the two others in Arkham."

"Actually, we do have plans in motion to acquiring the young woman identified as Zoe from the Justice League. Capturing her alive is of the utmost importance because, apparently, she is important to our prisoner. He may not fear for his own life, but I suspect he will do what we want if we have her in our custody. Also, we are well aware of her abilities given her little romp through Metropolis before the Justice League caught up with her." With another tap on her console, Zoe Kilmarten's image faded, leaving the image of the two Arkham inmates. "As for these two," she continued, "the termination order has been sent. In addition to a cleaner team, we've also arranged for a full scale riot to break out at Arkham. If our team won't finish them off, the worst of Arkham's residents will."

* * *

 _ **Arkham Asylum**_

 _ **Gotham City, New Jersey**_

Nicholas DeYorke aka "Slapstick" sneezed a couple times and shook his head. "Damn," he grumbled to his partner in crime as they were escorted by a few guards down a hallway. "Jean, I think I'm starting to get allergies."

"It's the uniform," Jean-Paul Renard aka "Bomber" replied. "They use Tide with bleach, it's an effective and cheap cleaner for prison uniforms...and a good base for a quick and dirty version of napalm as well. Unfortunately, it makes the skin itchy."

"Really?"

"Yep."

"Damn, did not know that."

"I actually demonstrated that in my first episode of Bomber's Bay."

"Oh...yeah, I don't think I saw that one."

"Of course you didn't, you were too busy trying to out-drink Lance Striker at the Amp Room. And by the way, you still owe him fifty dollars from that bet."

"I do not. I didn't lose. Our contest was interrupted by a bar fight."

"That you conveniently started by throwing up on Stronghold's shoes. And that, my friend, is an automatic loss."

"Dude, you paid Raptor a hundred bucks to flash me from behind Striker." Nick shuddered at that memory. "Okay, the merging of a velociraptor and a Sports Illustrated swimsuit model...there's just something wrong with that. Yeah, they were impressive, but too scaly for me."

"Shut up, you two," one of the guards growled, giving a none to gentle shot to Nick's ribs.

"Ow," Nick grunted though he didn't feel much from the blow. "What was that for?"

"Just getting you prepared for the welcoming party," the second guard replied.

"Welcoming party," Jean repeated. "Let me guess, you got a couple of the local residents waiting for us outside our respective cells to determine if the newbies are 'bitch material' for the rest of the mouth breathers that live here, right?"

"Actually, no," replied Guard one. "We got something special planned for you, don't we Marty?"

The second guard identified as Marty nodded as he pulled out a key card when they reached a set of heavy duty double doors. "Got that right, Stu," he said. He slid his key card through the slot and snorted. "After all, we figure that everyone should have a proper meal before they go to bed."

The doors opened to reveal the prison cafeteria where inmates were seated around tables, going through the chow line, or talking amongst each other while several guards stationed through out the room watched them. The activity inside the cafeteria abruptly stopped as everyone looked up to see the new arrivals. Some had curious expressions, others showed pity and fear, but most of them glared at them with a hungry expression that said one thing:

Fresh meat.

"Bon Appetit, boys," Marty laughed as he and Stu shoved Jean and Nick into the cafeteria before shutting the doors behind them.

"Damn, well, that just sucks," Nick muttered as he glanced at the door.

"Yeah, well, I think that's the least of our worries, Nick," Jean said, motioning at some of the inmates who were starting to rise from their seats and approach the two.

"So, you think they'll let us get something to eat or will they jump us first?" Nick asked quietly.

"With the way they're looking at us, I think we're the main course," Jean replied. "I really don't like the way that big guy is smiling at me."

"Ten bucks says his name is 'Bubba'," Nick snickered.

"You're on," Jean said. "I'll take the lead on this."

A large man with a shaved head and a swastika tattoo on the right side of his face stepped forward towards the two. "Well, look what we got, people," he announced. "Looks like we got ourselves a couple pretty boys."

While most of the other inmates joined the man in laughter, Nick and Jean looked around for a second.

"Pretty boys?" Nick asked.

"I think he means us, Nick," Jean replied.

"Really, us? I don't see it."

"Yes, idiots," the inmate snarled, "I'm talking about you two."

"Whoa there, Swastika-man," Nick said, raising his hands up defensively. "We didn't mean to offend."

"Yeah," Jean added, "we wouldn't want to waste the effort."

The man now called 'Swastika-man' sneered at the two of them as he stepped forward. "Oh, I like my bitches feisty."

"I'm sure you do," Jean said, not bothering to back down. "I guess that's why they don't let you pick up dates at the pound any more. Then again, you strike me as more of a chihuahua kind of person. You look like you prefer them small and yappy."

Instead of replying, Swastika-guy lunged forward, a home-made shiv in his hand. Jean barely had time to gasp as the blade ripped deep into his stomach three times. The guards in the cafeteria merely stood at their posts and watched as Jean dropped to his knees.

"This...sucks," he managed to wheeze before he fell to the ground.

Nick, for his part, shook his head and looked down at his fallen friend. "Oh yeah, that was stupid," he muttered.

"Thank you, Mr. Obvious," Swastika-guy said as he turned to look at Nick. "So, what should I do with you?"

Nick smiled at the guy and shook his head. "No, dude, seriously," he said. "That was really stupid, stabbing him like that. He really hates that kind of shit, gets him kind of cranky."

"What the hell are you talking about, Tinkerbell?" Swastika-guy asked. He was now looking Nick in the eyes and, for a moment, he hesitated when he realized that this 'newby' seemed too comfortable with the situation he was in.

"Oh, don't worry, you'll find out in three...two...one..."

Suddenly, Jean sat up from his prone position on the ground holding his stomach. "GODDAMN MOTHERFUCKER!" he screamed. Half the inmates in the cafeteria jumped in surprise while the rest were startled by the supposedly dead new inmate stumbling back to his feet. "THAT FUCKING HURT!"

Swastika-guy's face paled as he saw Jean turn to look at him. "No way," he gasped, "I killed you." He charged forward again, thrusting his shiv at Jean who deftly stepped aside, grabbed the man's arm while bringing up his own leg to knee the man in the ribcage. Swastika-guy let out an "oof" sound as he dropped the shiv. Then Jean reached out with both hands, grabbed the larger man's head and turned it sharply to the side. A clearly audible crack was heard before Jean released the now dead man. He then spat on the dead man's body as he bent down and picked up the shiv.

"Okay," Jean said as he held the shiv up in the air. "Who's fucking next?"

That was when the whole cafeteria suddenly erupted into an all out brawl as several inmates rushed to attack the new arrivals while others took the opportunity to attack each other. The guards, for the most part, stayed out of the fight, preferring to watch the mayhem until one inmate got too close to one guard and got a stun-stick for his trouble. Then the inmates started attacking the guards and it became a free-for-all.

And yet, at one table, a thin man with light brown hair and wearing a pair of glasses sat quietly while the mayhem went on around him. Instead, Edward Nygma was focusing on his crossword puzzle when one of the new inmates landed next to his table.

"Ow," Nick muttered as he pulled himself up and leaned on the table for a moment to get his bearings. He then noticed the man sitting quietly and doing his crossword. "Oh, hey, sorry for intruding."

"Riddle me this," Nygma said, not even looking up as he read the next crossword clue. "Seven letters, German word for castle."

"Oh, that's easy,"Nick said. "Schloss."

"Thank you."

"No problem. Glad I could help." Nick then cracked his knuckles. "Now if you'll excuse me, I need to join my friend in engaging in some mindless bloodshed."

"Carry on, then."

Nick gave a mock salute and then jumped into a pile of bodies who were trying to rush Jean.

"BANZAI!"

* * *

 _ **SIX HOURS LATER...after the bodies and the surviving witnesses were processed...**_

Detective Harvey Bullock stood in the middle of the crime scene as he watched the CSU techs continue to process the scene, chewing on a toothpick and wondering what the hell happened. He had been to Arkham before, usually when he had to question a suspect, bring one in, or even for the occasional murder. But this time...this time was different.

"Y'know," he said out loud, "I've seen riots that had less blood than this."

"And, believe it or not, it all took place in under five minutes," his partner, Renee Montoya said as she walked up to him. She handed him a list that had at least a dozen names on it. "These are the inmates that were killed."

Bullock took the list and scanned the names. "Let's see, Martin Gainor, Maxie Zeus, Morten Hostetter, whoa...Victor ZsasZ? He's among the dead?"

Renee gestured at a misshapen chalk outline marked '21a'. "That's where they found him."

"'21a'?" Harvey asked, giving her a curious look. "What's up with that?"

Renee looked a little green in the face. "They found one of his arms over there, it's marked '21b', and '21c' is part of his left leg."

"What the hell?"

"According to witnesses, they were ripped off his body at some point and used to beat up on the other inmates."

Harvey shook his head in disbelief and gestured to the cafeteria around him, surrounded by broken tables and chairs and covered with blood splatters. "Two guys did this in less than five minutes? What the hell happened exactly?"

"Well, it appears that some of the guards wanted to give these two 'newbies' a proper introduction to Arkham's general population."

Harvey nodded in understanding. "Yeah, some of the bastards here get their jollies feeding fresh meat to the animals." He happened to glance up at the ceiling and noticed a couple bloody footprints. Oh yeah, this was going to be a crazy one, Harvey had decided.

"Well, the first 'animal', a white supremacist, calling himself 'Agnar', also known as Martin Gainor, came at the two, traded some words, and then shivved one of them...a Jean-Paul Renard. And that's when it went crazy." Renee pointed towards the area in front of the main doors to the cafeteria. "That happened over there, then Renard got up."

"What?"

"He got up, and, in a fit of rage, snapped Agnar's neck. Then others decided to rush the two and all hell broke loose."

"And the guards inside the cafeteria just let it happen?"

"I think they were enjoying the show until one of the inmates attacked them and then it became a free for all. Two of the guards were killed, but they weren't killed by the two who started this fight. That was six hours ago, the CSU team managed to recover all but one of the guards' weapons, a nightstick, but they will have to go to the morgue to retrieve it."

"The morgue? What's it doing in the morgue?"

"It somehow found it's way into Maxie Zeus' body, having been shoved all the way up his ass, including the handle."

Harvey grimaced and shuddered at that. "Damn!"

"Apparently some of the security personnel want to upload the video to Youtube. I informed them that it's evidence, but you know some jackass probably e-mailed it to himself and will upload it later."

"Ah, typical Gotham integrity," Harvey quipped. "So we got at least twelve guys dead, another sixty seriously injured. Anything else."

"The Riddler was here, but he came out of it unscathed." Montoya gestured to the one remaining table in the cafeteria that was not damaged. "He claims he was doing a crossword puzzle the whole time and didn't notice anything. The video footage shows him briefly talking to one of the new inmates, a Nicholas DeYorke."

"Any other witnesses?" Bullock asked.

"Well, Jonathan Crane, but he won't be helpful either."

"Why not? Scarecrow's not one to keep quiet about something."

"No, but he's a blathering wreck. He wasn't injured, but when he's asked what happened, he just curls up into a ball and screams 'It's not possible! Dear God in Heaven, it's not possible!' or something along those lines. We're still trying to figure out what it is that's got him so freaked out."

Harvey looked around the crime scene again. "And what about these two guys who were in the middle of it all? Where are they and what's their story?"

"Jean-Paul Renard and Nicholas DeYorke," Montoya replied. "They were taken back to ISO wing after being processed and run through a shower. They were the two guys Batman had confronted down at the water front where that firefight took place with the Zucco family and that Triad group."

"Any priors on these two?"

"No. The names are the ones they gave us, and their prints and faces didn't show up on any of the databases we ran them through. It's like they don't exist at all, anywhere."

"Really?" Harvey arched an eyebrow at that revelation. "Looks like we got ourselves a real mystery; let's talk to these two idiots, shall we?"

* * *

 _ **ISO Wing**_

 _ **Arkham Asylum**_

" _Who are you? Who, who, who, who?  
Who are you? Who, who, who, who?  
Who are you? Who, who, who, who?  
Who are you? Who, who, who, who?_

 _Come on tell me, who are you?  
(Who are you?)_

 _I really wanna know  
I really wanna know  
Come on tell me, who are you, you, you, you?  
Who are you?"_

"Will you two shut up, already!" yelled a guard from down the hall.

Jean and Nick look at each other from their respective cells and laughed.

"Damn, we really should do karaoke at the Amp room again," Nick said. "I think we got it nailed down."

"Yeah, but I can't do the vocal mimicry like you can, Nick."

"No, but at least you got decent tone when you sing, unlike Striker."

Jean shuddered. "Don't bring that up, ever. Some people should not be allowed to sing, and he is one of them."

"So," a new voice interrupted them, causing them both to look to the side and see a heavy set detective wearing a trench coat and a fedora hat. "You're the two guys responsible for the party in the cafeteria."

Behind the large man was a slender Hispanic woman with long black hair tied back in a pony-tail, wearing blue jeans and a leather jacket.

Nick let out a low whistle. "Hey, Jean, I think the bad cop and hot cop are here to interrogate us."

Jean merely shrugged. "About time. So you're the detectives investigating the scene, huh?"

"Yeah," the large detective grunted. "I'm Harvey Bullock, and this is Detective Montoya."

"Oh, she's Montoya?" Nick asked, a disappointed look on his face while Jean chuckled.

"Yeah, she's Montoya," Renee Montoya snapped, glaring at Jean. "What's so funny?"

"Oh, we know who you are, Detective," Jean replied. "It's just we also know that guys," he paused as he noticed the alarmed look on her face and changed what he was about to say, "that guys like us aren't in your league and we shouldn't waste time flirting with you."

"Well, yeah," Harvey quipped, "you don't have the right plumbing."

Montoya's mouth dropped in shock. "What!?"

"Relax, Renee," Harvey assured her, "I've known for awhile and I don't care. It's obvious these two know, but wise-ass one over here seemed concerned about it and tried not say it."

"Wow," Jean muttered, "you may look like a dumb gorilla, but you certainly don't act like it."

"Gee, thanks," Bullock shot back. "So, would you two like to explain what happened in the cafeteria?"

"What's there to tell?" Jean asked. "We were attacked by some guy who intended to molest us like most sexually depraved inmates tend to do to people they see as 'newbies'. I pretty much told him to fuck off, he attacked, I defended myself-"

"Self-defensed him to death," Nick coughed.

"Shut up, Nick."

"It's true, though. You reached up an snapped the fucker's neck like a pro."

"That's bullshit, I'm not a professional killer like you."

"Yeah, keep telling yourself that, buddy. Whatever makes you sleep at night...that is, if Violet ever lets you sleep."

"Hey, you leave my love life out of this! Besides, it's kind of hard to say no when she's-"

"Um, guys," Harvey interrupted. "Can we come back to the main conversation?"

"Sorry, Detective," Jean said. "We kind of went off on a tangent there."

"Yeah, you did. So ... in the cafeteria, you were attacked by this guy. I understand he shivved you. And before you deny it, we have it on video."

Jean shrugged his shoulders again. "Yeah, he shivved me and I kind of got carried away. I may heal fast, but it still hurts."

"Heal fast? You're a meta?"

"Yeah, I guess you can call me that, but we call ourselves 'novas' back home."

"Oh, and where is home, exactly?" Montoya asked.

"West coast," Nick replied before Jean could. "LA, Oakland, Portland, Seattle, hell, we even go up to Vancouver because Jean gets homesick." He then pretended to whisper behind the back of his hand. "He's Canadian, so he's a little backwards."

Jean's response was to flip Nick off, which caused Nick to snicker while Montoya couldn't help smiling at the antics of these two.

"Are you two always like this?" Harvey asked.

"Like what?"

"The whole 'double-act' you two got going."

"Pretty much," Jean said. "We've been doing this since we first met each other in second grade at military academy."

"Ah, yes, Sinclaire Military Academy," Nick chimed in. "Proudly grooming your children to become killers since the end of the Vietnam War. We definitely left our mark there, didn't we, Jean?"

Jean chuckled softly. "Yeah, they still haven't been able to remove the scorch marks off the school crest above the main entrance."

"Can you kill the act and just answer the questions?"

Jean sighed and sat down on his bed in the prison cell. "Go ahead, Detective, it's not like we're going anywhere."

"So you're a meta?"

"Yeah, but like I said, we go by the term novas, but it really doesn't matter. Yes, we have powers, but we don't have super-strength to bust out of here and fast healing doesn't exactly help with escaping a maximum security facility like this. So we're just going to bide our time until the people who tried to have us killed make their next move."

"Wait, hold on," Harvey said, confused at Jean's statement. "What do you mean by that?"

"C'mon, Detectives," Nick said, "you two aren't stupid. Two 'newbies', not even taken to their cells first, but dropped almost immediately into the cafeteria when some of the more violent inmates are present? I know places like Arkham are rife with corrupt personnel, but this was done too smoothly. Someone deliberately threw us in a lion's den."

"We killed a bunch of lions," Jean continued, "and I think that was just a first attempt ... the 'easy' way, if you will. It was attempt to get rid of us with plausible deniability. No one's going to look any further than a couple new guys getting eaten alive by the residents of Arkham."

"That sounds crazy."

"Maybe so, Detective, but that's all we got. Maybe it is possible that this was just a random case of some Arkham guards dumping a couple newbies into a pit of vipers for shits and grins, but I don't think so."

"What makes you so sure?" Renee asked.

"Because, Detective Montoya, we may be from out of town, but we've seen this kind of shit happen before," Nick said.

"Besides," Jean added, "if you want proof, just wait. Something will happen in the next forty-eight hours."

"I still think that sounds crazy," Harvey said.

"Then you have nothing to lose, Detective," Jean said. "If nothing happens, feel free to come in two days from now and tell me that I'm a deranged idiot. But if I'm right ..." Jean's voice trailed off for a moment. "If I'm right and this ends up being the kind of operation we suspect it might be, you better be ready."

"Ready for what?"

It was Nick who answered Montoya's question, and when he spoke, there was no humor in his voice and his expression became serious,

"Be ready for a war."


	15. Considerations, a Reunion, and Assassins

Disclaimer: JLU owned by WB/DC comics. Aberrant, owned by White Wolf/Onyx publishing. The Incredibles, owned by Pixar/Disney (though only one character is actually in this fic).

Author's Notes: For those of you who are wondering why Bomber and Slapstick aren't afraid of Batman, my only suggestion is to read up on the world of Aberrant from White Wolf. Let's just say they (and Zoe and David) come from a darker world. To put it bluntly, the recently released "Justice League: Gods and Monsters" would be a close mirror to the kind of world they're used to. I try not to belittle Batman in this chapter, but he's dealing with two guys who are not afraid of him. I also want to apologize in advance to Green Lantern and Hawkgirl fans. Was not a big fan of John Stewart's "stick up his ass" attitude and wasn't a big fan of Shayera's bitchiness (though I will admit she got better after Starcrossed). Besides, given his attitude, I could see Stewart actually acting like this when he sees a "potential" threat that the isn't under the League's control.

Oh, and the explanation of how the two worlds are linked will be explained in time (though some hints were dropped in D&I).

* * *

"It is sometimes an appropriate response to reality to go insane."

-Phillip K. Dick

* * *

 _ **The Watchtower**_

"I don't like this," Superman said, looking up from his position at conference table as all seven of the core members of the League watched the holographic surveillance image floating in front of them showing a live feed from the Watchtower cafeteria where Zoe was sitting with the man known as Jay "Jack" Robertson and talking. "We shouldn't be spying on them like this."

"Given what we've all recently learned about Robertson and Miss Kilmarten, it would be wise to be cautious in our dealings with them," J'onn said.

"Am I the only one weirded out by this whole thing?" Flash asked. "I mean, I get the whole thing about them being from some alternate reality where we're works of fiction, but this Robertson guy claiming to be from Zoe's world, but having been thrown back in our time seventy years ago? I know we deal with some crazy stuff, but this is starting to get way out there even for me."

"Zoe and Jay do know each other," Diana said, "that much is obvious. And the device he gave me appears similar to the one Zoe gave us."

"More than similar," Batman added, "it's the exact same design. Despite taking serious damage, some surviving components match up to the device Kilmarten gave us."

"That's nice, but can we go back to who the hell this Robertson guy is?" Green Lantern asked, a suspicious tone in his voice. "We've seen how powerful he is, why haven't we heard of him until now?"

"Actually, we have heard of him," Batman replied. "He was a member of the Challengers of the Unknown back in the 60s and was with the team until they all retired back in '85."

"Hey, I remember them. I actually have a vintage lunch box that I bought from a gift store in Challengerville when I was passing through Colorado." Wally then paused when he saw the strange looks on the faces of some of the other members, including a smile from Superman. "Hey," he said, "don't judge me, it's a collector's item!"

A few of the League members laughed softly, but Hawkgirl's expression suddenly darkened. "Challengerville, Colorado?" she asked.

"Yeah," Wally replied. "They got hit a little hard in the invasion, but they..." He stopped in mid-sentence when he realized what he was saying. "Oh...shit...shouldn't have brought that up."

Green Lantern looked at his former lover, a concerned look on his face. "Shayera? Is something wrong."

"It's him, John," Shayera replied softly, glancing down at the table for a moment before looking up at the rest of her fellow League members.

"Him who?" Flash asked.

"When my people ... occupied Earth, some places didn't comply. Challengerville, Colorado was one of those cities. I originally led a group to negotiate with the townspeople, but I was recalled by Hro Talak for reassignment." She paused for a moment when she caught a dark look from Wonder Woman. "I'm not sure what happened, but I was told there was resistance and the unit assigned reacted accordingly when dealing with insurgents."

"Which is?" Diana asked, her tone cold and neutral.

"I won't lie to you, Diana, they would have put the initial resisting forces down as brutally as possible to make them an example to other would-be insurgents. What I do know is that Hro lost contact with them shortly after they declared the city under their control." Shayera paused again, recalling that dark moment and could actually feel bile in the back of her throat. "A recon team found the charred remains of commander Krn Malus and his squad impaled on fence posts outside the city limits. From what I understand, Hro was about to order the city razed when you launched your attack. Aros, one of my jailers, was telling me how this 'fair-haired' being incinerated Krn's soldiers and ripped the wings off several of them."

"From his point of view, he felt it was justified because of what your people had done to innocent civilians," Diana said. "Though I wouldn't suggest talking to him right now. He's not a fan of your race."

"I understand that, Diana," Shayera admitted, "but even I wouldn't commit such a barbaric act."

Before Diana could comment, Wally jumped in. "Maybe you wouldn't, but others of your countrymen had no problem with that," he said. "Face it, you have a sense of honor and ethics that most of your people lacked."

The tension that started to fill the room was broken by Wally's statement. A hint of a smile tugged at the corner of Diana's mouth as she said, "I believe Wally has a point, though I never thought he was capable of being that deep of a thinker."

"Hey!" Wally half-whined.

"Be that as it may, I still don't trust him," Green Lantern said as he turned to glare at Batman. "You must have known about him," the accusatory tone was there, but Batman didn't seem bothered by it. "Why didn't you approach him about joining the League?"

"I did," Batman replied. "He turned it down."

"And you didn't think to tell us about him?" Green Lantern asked angrily.

"He wanted to keep a low profile," Batman replied coldly. "He was not a threat and he said he would help if he was needed."

"Yeah, well, I can think of a few times we might have needed him."

"Are you sure about that, John?" Diana asked. "Because I'm starting to think he might be more dangerous if he were with us." Everyone turned to look at her, half of them were puzzled by her comment, but Batman, J'onn, and even Superman weren't. "At Steve's...Colonel Trevor's funeral, Ares paid me a visit."

Now she had everyone's attention, even Wally who choked on his mocha he was starting to drink when she had mention Ares' name.

"Ares," Superman repeated. "As in the god of war?"

"Yes."

"Why would he bother showing up at Trevor's funeral?" Green Lantern asked.

"He was paying tribute to a fallen warrior," Diana replied. "And he was warning me about something coming. He also didn't want to be around Jay and disappeared the moment he approached us."

"Well, I guess that makes sense," Wally said. "I mean, he is the god of war, and I can see him actually honoring a guy like Trevor. But why would he be afraid of Jay? Sure, the kid knocked Supergirl's clone around like a cheap punching bag, but even Ares wouldn't be bothered by that."

"Maybe it's because Jay Robertson was holding back," Martian Manhunter offered, a thoughtful look on his face.

"Something you'd like to add, J'onn?" Superman asked, noting that a thoughtful look on the Martian's face meant he had discovered something that was potentially bad news.

"As suggested by Batman, I did some initial bio-scans of Zoe Kilmarten and Mr. Robertson," J'onn said. "They do not possess the metagene that metahumans in our world possess."

"Well, that's no surprise," Wally said, "not all of us have a metagene that give us our powers."

"No, but the scans indicate they have something in common with a race we are familiar with." J'onn tapped a couple keys on a holographic keyboard that hovered in front of him and an another three dimensional display flashed into existence above the table showing Justice League member Orion and Darkseid, the ruler of Apokolips. "They have more in common with the race we identified as the New Gods than they do with our meta-humans."

"So they may have a connection to Apokolips," Superman said, his eyes narrowing in suspicion.

J'onn shook his head. "No," he assured everyone, "more like a genetic off-shoot and less evolved. Though the power demonstrated by Robertson would put him somewhere near your level, Superman, I would dare say he is holding back."

"Why would he do that?" Wally asked.

"I can answer that," Superman sighed, his initial suspicion gone. "Probably for the same reasons I rarely cut loose. After seeing how he handled himself against Eiling's troops, it's obvious he was holding back until Galatea showed up. And even then, he kept it in check. If he truly cut loose, I suspect that he might have done more damage to the surrounding area, including Coast City."

"Still, a being with that kind of power, we can't just let him walk around unchecked," Green Lantern rumbled. "He's a potential threat."

"Really, John?" Diana snapped. "He hasn't done anything threatening to us."

"Maybe so, but he does represent an unchecked threat to this planet. Perhaps I should contact the Corps to send us back up in case-"

Diana cut her fellow League member off by slamming both hands on the table, causing everyone to jump. "I can't believe I'm hearing this! Neither he or Zoe are a threat to us, or the world for that matter. I understand how you can see Robertson as a possible threat, but there's no need to actually make him one."

"I don't think you understand, Diana. If he's as powerful as Superman, we can't leave him unchecked!"

"Why?" Wally asked, his tone suddenly serious. "Because he's not officially part of our club out here? Since when did we become the keeper of people with super-powers who keep to themselves? Besides, he spent all his time with the Challengers, I'm going to go out on a limb here and say he's one of the good guys."

Superman cleared his throat before he spoke, hoping to defuse the tension that was starting to build up again. "Perhaps we should take a vote on this."

"Hold on." Batman suddenly reached up and tapped the side of his cowl, activating his commlink. "Go, Oracle…I see, I'll be right there," he said. Then he looked over at other League members as he stood up to leave. "There's been a situation at Arkham, it appears our other two dimensionally displaced guests were involved in an incident. Multiple inmates killed or severely injured in a fight in the cafeteria."

"Did they escape?" Superman asked.

"No, and that bothers me." Batman replied as he headed towards the exit.

"What about Robertson?" Lantern asked.

"What about him?" Batman threw over his shoulder. "If you want try to contain him, go right ahead, but I agree with Diana. We don't want to make him a threat."

A second later, he was gone, leaving an irritated Green Lantern and five confused fellow League members behind. Then, Superman suddenly surprised everyone by chuckling softly.

"What's so funny?" Wally asked.

J'onn smiled as well when he realized what Superman was thinking. "Batman already knew about Robertson," he said. "Which means he probably has a contingency plan to deal with man."

"Maybe so," Lantern reluctantly said, "but I don't like it. He needs to be monitored like the Kilmarten girl."

"Hey, relax, GL," Wally laughed. "This is Batman we're talking about. If he has a plan to stop Robertson, it'll work. Hell, if he wanted to, he could probably come up with plans to take down each and every one of us down and it would work."

Suddenly, the room went quiet again as looks of horrified realization appeared on the faces of the other League founders.

"What?" Wally asked. "Was it something I said?"

* * *

 _ **Watchtower Cafeteria**_

Zoe and Jay Robertson sat at a table in the cafeteria while other members of the Justice League and Watchtower crew ate and talked with each other. For a few minutes, neither Zoe or Jay said anything, preferring to eat their respective meals in silence. It wasn't until Zoe started on her third mocha that she worked up the courage to say something.

"So what do I call you?"

"Excuse me?" Jay seemed taken aback by that question. "What do you mean?"

"Do I call you 'Jay' or do I call you 'Jack'?"

Jay shrugged and popped a couple french fries in his mouth. "It doesn't matter, though I've been going by Jay for about sixty years now."

Zoe shook her head. "Sorry, this is so weird," she said. "I mean, I only saw you a few weeks ago at SST and you were just this nine year old smart-ass kid. But now you're..."

Jay smirked at her. "A senior citizen in the body of a twenty-something?" he asked, finishing her sentence for her.

"Well, I wasn't going to go there, but … yeah, how the hell did that happen?"

"I already told you, Zoe."

"The part where someone blasted you into the portal and you ended up sixty some-odd years in the past on this world? Yeah, I got that part, but it's hard to believe. You know how cheezy that sounds?"

"Any cheezier than being stuck in a world where fictional characters are real and us eating above-average cafeteria food in their orbiting space station?"

Zoe had to admit that Jay had her there. "Okay, point taken. But you were thrown back in time as well as being sucked over here?"

"Yep, 1946," Jay replied. "And believe me, it sucked at first, but I have to admit going without the conveniences of the 21st century and working my way towards it was kind of a trip. The guy that took me in, Steve, he understood though."

"He did?"

"Yeah, apparently he had a run in with the Justice League a couple years earlier...some sort of time travel thing."

"So why the name change?"

"Jay was kind of a nickname I acquired from some friends and the Robertson was taken from my dad's name."

"Hmmm, Jay Robertson, you're dad's first name was Bob...no...Robert. I get it now, 'Robert's son'." Zoe gave him a smug grin. "Kind of cool but lame at the same time."

"Okay, so originality wasn't my strong suit."

"Wait, hold on a second," Zoe said. "If you were here all this time did you have to...you know," she lowered her voice to a whisper, "live through the 80s?"

Jay laughed. "Yeah, I did," he answered her. "And let me be the first to say that I now understand David's fear of 80s hair." He ate another french fry and took a sip of his soda. "But it wasn't all bad," he continued, "learned to fly aircraft, play a guitar, and even got to meet Elvis at some point."

"No way!"

"Yep, the King himself...and yes, Zoe, he truly is dead.." Jay's smile faded a little. "So, did anyone else from our world get sucked in here?"

Zoe shook her head. "None of the SST crowd. I was at a coffee house half-way across town when these military looking guys appeared through that portal thingie and attacked. Took them out, but got sucked in by that portal when one of the idiots activated it before I knocked him unconscious."

"Where did you end up?"

"Metropolis."

"How did Superman take it?"

"He didn't, I ended up being picked up by Kara and Wally instead."

"Kara and Wally?"

"Supergirl and Flash."

"I'm assuming that you're on good terms with them since you refer to them by their first names," Jay said.

"Yeah, and to be honest, they're probably the only two decent capes here. Everyone comes off like an egotistical douche-bag because they have powers and they're 'heroes'." Zoe made air-quote gestures with her fingers when she said "heroes".

"They're not all like that," Jay said. "Sure, some of them are a little showy, but not all of them arrogant and wound up too tight."

"Says you," Zoe grumbled before taking a sip of her mocha. "When I'm not with Wally or Kara, I see Green Douchebag or Winged bitch stalking me. Then again, I suppose I should be thankful that it's not the 'goddamn Batman'." She spoke the last words in a raspy mockery of the Dark Knight's voice.

"Hey, the Bat's not that bad, and he doesn't sound like that."

"So, have you met him when he's in his 'civilian' identity?"

"Yeah, and no, he doesn't look like Keaton, Clooney, or Kilmer." Jay finished off his soda and looked around for a moment before lowering his voice a little for privacy. "You said none of the SST crew got dragged here, but I'm assuming you know someone else from our world who got pulled in."

"Well, yeah," Zoe hedged, unsure of how she could break the news to him. "But they're not exactly friends of ours."

Jay's eyes narrowed in suspicion. "Who is it, Zoe?"

"Look, I'm not even sure how they got here, but Batman found them and tossed them in Arkham Asylum...and I can tell you that's a bad idea."

"Who was it, Zoe?" Jay asked again, obviously not liking that fact that Zoe was trying to stall him.

Zoe fidgeted slightly. "If I tell you, will you promise not to go crazy. I mean, I know how certain members of your family don't care for dealing with the kids of their enemies."

"Who?"

"Bomber and Slapstick."

Zoe was half expecting Jay to get pissed off and start blasting things, but found herself looking at a young man with a surprised look on his face. "Oh shit, Jean's here? There wasn't a mention of Violet being with him when he appeared, was there?"

"Not that I know of," Zoe replied. "And why would Violet be with him..." Zoe's eyes widened in realization as her mind suddenly pieced everything together. "Oh my god! Vi and Bomber? When did this happen?"

"A little bit after she recovered from being shot. She doesn't know that I know, and I sure as hell don't want to be there when she tells the rest of the family. Mom and Dad would..." Jay paused for a moment, a pained look in his eyes before pushing it away. "They will freak."

Zoe caught the hesitation in Jay's voice, but decided not to call him on it. As it was, she had something more important to focus on. "So," she said, "what do we do now? Any ideas on how we get home?"

"Well, I gave the League the remains of what I think was a device that created the portal that brought me here," Jack said. "But it was damaged and part of it was missing."

"No worries there," Zoe assured him, "I gave them a fully intact one, but they're having trouble 'calibrating' it...that's what they say anyway."

"You don't trust them, do you?"

"No, Jack, I don't."

"Care to enlighten me on that?"

"Batman is a suspicious asshole, but I don't blame him...that's what he does best. Wally's cool, Wonder Woman hasn't been around much, and the green Martian guy isn't that bad, though I have to admit it's fun making jokes about being 'probed by aliens'." She took another sip of her mocha before she continued. "Superman is a good guy, but he's kind of clueless on how things really are. And then you got Green Lantern with something stuck up his ass and Winged Bitch. Those last two have been looking at me suspiciously the entire time I've been here. I mean, with Batman, that's understandable, but those two would prefer I'd be locked up until they figure out what to do with me."

Jay smirked at her. "Okay, you got some good points, but in Superman's defense, keep in mind that he and almost all the other capes here are from THIS reality, not ours. Up 'til now, they never faced the kind of stuff we have in our world. As for Green Lantern and Hawkgirl, that's just the way they are." Jay's expression darkened slightly. "Stewart has always had a stick of his ass, but that's his problem, not yours. Shayera Hol, if she's smart, will say the hell away from me." Then his toned lightened as he gestured at the rest of the League members sitting in the cafeteria. "As for the rest of these people, they actually believe they're doing some good in the world, Zoe. They aren't sell-outs or brainwashed idiots like Utopia's crew."

"That may be true," Zoe admitted, "but I'll be glad to get out of here and get back to our world. No offense, Jack, but I don't plan on waiting here for the next sixty years."

* * *

 **Arkham Asylum**

 **ISO WING**

 **Gotham City, New Jersey**

"Okay, my turn," Nick said, lying the bed in his cell. "First question, are you male or female?"

Jean sat on the edge of his bed in his cell while studying the cement walls of his cell. "Female."

"Alive or Dead?"

"Dead."

"Were you in politics?"

"Kind of."

"Kind of," Nick repeated, "what the hell kind of answer is that?"

"An honest answer and that counts as question number four."

"No it doesn't."

"Yes it does."

"Since when?"

"Since forever and that was question five."

"Bullshit!" Nick snapped. "When did we agree to that rule?"

"Number Six."

"Dude, that's cheating."

"Well, of course it's cheating; we're playing twenty question because we're bored out of our minds and we'd be dying of boredom if we weren't cheating."

"Damn, how can I find fault with your logic?"

"You can't, and that was number seven!"

"Dammit!"

Jean smiled, focusing on the bars that made up the front of his cell before focusing on the sliding door mechanism. He had been doing this for the last few hours since he and Nick were brought back to the ISO wing and was almost done formulating a plan to break out of his cell. He also knew that Nick was trying to determine an escape route for the two of them since he really didn't need to worry about getting out of his cell. He was about to say something when a new voice cut him off.

"You two certainly didn't waste time," rasped their visitor as he stepped out of the shadows and stood between their cells.

"Aw, dammit," Nick groaned as he sat up on his bed. "Shouldn't you be banging Catwoman or something right now?" He didn't even cringe as Batman glared at him. "Wow, nice glare, I'd be pissing in my pants right now if I was one of the low-grade amateurs you beat up every night."

"Easy, Nick," Jean chuckled. "Keep in mind he has some deep seated rage issues that stem from having a traumatic childhood event that turned him into the drape-wearing douche bag of darkness that he is today."

For a moment, Batman stood there and said nothing before turning to face Jean. "Since you seem to know a lot about me, how about I reveal what I know about you?"

"Good luck with that," Nick laughed.

The barest hint of a smile briefly tugged at the corner of the Dark Knight's mouth. "Jean-Paul Renard and Nicholas DeYorke," he said. "Better known as Bomber and Slapstick, super-powered mercenaries for hire. You two normally operated out of the East Coast United States until recently. Renard operates a video-blog site called 'Bomber's Bay' showing off his heists and other crazy stunts." He then turned to reface Nick. "You, Slapstick, are professional assassin."

"That's not true!" Bomber exclaimed. "Nick and 'professional' don't even belong together in the same sentence. Having known him since second grade, I can attest that there is hardly anything professional about him."

"Says the guy whose body count is up there with mine."

"That's bullshit, Nick," Jean snapped. "I don't do contract killings like you."

"No, of course not, you tend to 'self-defense' people to death...a lot!"

"But I'm not a psychotic nut-job like you who would kill his own grandmother."

"Dude, seriously? You've met the woman, you know how she is."

"Yeah, but she always was nice to me...she even baked home-made almond butter cookies for me."

"Um...yeah, about that...there weren't any almonds in those cookies. That was cyanide.

Jean sat there in his cell for a moment, struck by that sudden revelation. "Seriously?"

"Yep."

"Well, damn, that would explain why they packed a kick."

Batman glared at Jean for a moment. "Are you two through?" he asked.

"Um, I dunno," Jean replied. "Nick, are we through?"

"Yeah, I guess. So, Mr. Dark Knight, sir. What brings you to our humble abode?" Nick asked, leaning against the bars of his cell. "Surely it's not to glare at us in a sad attempt to make us shit our pants."

"Actually, Nick, I think he might have a real reason for coming here," Jean said as he walked up to the edge of his cell. "So, Batman, let me re-ask Nick's question. Why are you here?"

"A better question to ask would be why you two haven't broken out yet," Batman replied. "I know that DeYorke can teleport and you, Mr. Renard, have been described as a sort of 'escape artist' in addition to your other skills."

"You're well informed," Jean said, his expression suddenly becoming serious. "And the only way you can gather the information you have on us is if you talked to someone who knows us, or at least knows about us."

"And the 'clown act' that you two put on is almost convincing."

"Actually, in Nick's case, I don't think it's an act."

"Pot, kettle, black," Nick yawned in response to Jean's comment. "So, Bats, someone told you about us and you know that we can get out of here and you want to know why we haven't done it yet."

"Isn't it obvious, Nick?" Jean asked. "It's for the same reason he won't take us out of here and lock us up on their little space-station. He's waiting to see who they're going to send to take us out, aren't you?"

Instead of answering, Batman's eyes narrowed in suspicion as he glared at Jean.

Jean smiled at the man's reaction. "I'm right, aren't I? I'm willing to bet you even have an idea who it might be, don't you?"

The Dark Knight glared at Jean for a couple more seconds before glancing at Nick. Then he turned and walked off into the shadows before vanishing in flash of blue-white light.

"Cool," Nick said a few seconds later, "they got transporters like they do in Star Trek!"

"Yeah, they got transporters," Jean said, "and that could be a problem."

"True, but we'll cross that bridge when we get there, bud. Besides, it's not a total loss, I got another voice down thanks to our guest." Nick pretended to clear his throat for a second. When he spoke again, it was a perfect imitation of the Dark Knight. "That makes ten security guards, two police detectives, and me, the GODDAMN BATMAN!"

Jean laughed and fell back on his bed. "Damn, does it hurt to do that?"

"Nah," Nick replied, switching back to his own voice. He then pretended to hit himself in the crotch before he spoke again, this time sounding like Renee Montoya. "But it does hurt a little to do this."

They both laughed at Nick's impression for a few seconds before they both became serious. "But honestly, Jean," Nick said in his normal voice, "how long do you think we got?"

"With the crap we pulled earlier and the Dork Knight's appearance here, I'm guessing something will happen in the next twenty-four hours, maybe twelve. Wasn't able to get much off his facial ticks, but I got the impression he suspects someone to be moving in on us soon."

"How do you think they'll do it?" Nick asked.

"Well, it's obvious the first attempt was the cafeteria and that didn't work out so well." I'm thinking whoever it is will probably try something really lame...like incite an all out riot while a covert teams comes in to eliminate us."

"Fuck! Seriously?" Nick shook his head. "That is so fucking movie-cliche."

"I know that but, given where we are, we have to look at that possibility."

"At least our enemies back home were far more creative," Nick grumbled. "So, what is the plan, Jean? Kill our way out and raze everything in sight or is it option number two?"

This time, Jean's face broke into an evil grin. "We're going to have to do a little bit of option one when dealing with the residents here, but I think we'll go with option two for the people who really want to take us out. Besides, it's been a long time since we went the D.E.M. route."

Nick perked up at that term. "Oooh, really? It's been awhile since we 'damaged, embarrassed, and maimed' somebody. Any idea how we start on this?"

Jean chuckled as he laid back on his bed. "That's the best part, Nick...we let them start the game, and then we improvise."

Nick wasn't sure if he should laugh or be concerned when he heard Jean's response. Granted, "improvising" on the fly meant a lot of blood and mayhem along the way, but Jean was one who preferred to have a set game plan that focused more on the objective and less on collateral damage. The fact that Jean wanted to go the D.E.M. route meant he was really pissed off. Not that Nick really cared about that, Jean was a lot more fun to hang out with when he went this route.

"Improvise, huh?" Nick finally said. "Cool."


	16. Interlude I

Disclaimer: Don't own Aberrant, Onyx does. Don't own Incredibles, Pixar does (and I'm glad no one from their reads my crap), don't own Justice League Unlimited (WB and DC do).

Author's Notes: I realize that Emil Hamilton wasn't a total asshole in the series and he did have good reasons for what he did...but make no mistake, even bad guys can have a conscience...especially when they believe they're doing the "right" thing (and those are scariest type of villains to deal with in my opinion). Now, some of you might be asking if I'm going to show Waller's good side at some point. Answer: Hell no...she was a bitch in the comics (and in Batman Assault on Arkham) and I'm relying more on that version of Waller than the watered down version they had on JLU.

And, as usual, reviews and threats are welcome. Flames will be ignored or thrown back at the poster as soon as I sober up.

* * *

 **Santa Fe, New Mexico**

 **CADMUS Headquarters**

Emil Hamilton stood next to Doctor Moon as he made calibration adjustments on his computer before consulting the readings on the monitor. He tried to ignore the fact that they had a young man hooked up to a mechanical monstrosity that looked like something out of an HR Geiger painting. He ignored the grunts of pain from the prisoner and focused on the data flowing across Moon's screen.

"It is interesting, is it not?" Moon asked as he adjusted his tinted glasses. "The boy's mind is literally like a computer itself, albeit a heavily encrypted one."

"It would make sense, given the fact he was able to mentally link up to our network with no problem," Hamilton replied. "The team investigating his gauntlets found some very interesting data within the control system on those devices. Our R&D people have unearthed a treasure trove that will keep them busy for months, if not years."

"Bah!" Moon snorted. "That is just the front door to something more. The boy is resisting very heavily." He then gestured to a bank of monitors showing various data flowing across their screens. "As you can see, even though he's locked down, he is still attempting to 'jack in' and cripple our systems or throw up firewalls to keep us from looking in his mind." Then he gave Hamilton an evil grin as he pushed another button. "That, however, is easily remedied."

The LED on the control band on the prisoner's head began to flash to life, as did a couple of the rods inserted on each side of young man's neck. Two seconds later, the prisoner thrashed about wildly, screaming in agony before convulsing one final time and collapsing back into unconsciousness. One of the monitors began to flow with a steady stream of data and algorithms, causing Doctor Moon to clasp his hands together and chuckle. "And that is yet another firewall down and more data flowing. I wonder what secrets this little bastard will give us this time?"

Though he didn't like David Pine Flynn, Hamilton found himself trying to force back the bile forming in his throat as he watched Moon torture the young man. This was not what he signed on for...and yet, part of him felt a sense of satisfaction at seeing the boy suffer for what he did to Galatea.

 _On the other hand, can you blame him? After all, you sent Galatea to his world and she killed several people the boy cared about before he was brought here. You signed on with this project because you saw the Justice League as potential threat if they ever went rogue. But what does that say about you when you send operatives to attack another world to acquire technology for a war they aren't even involved in?_

Hamilton pushed those thoughts aside. Yes he had some misgivings about what they had been doing. But it was for the greater good.

 _And how many times has the 'greater good' been justified for some the ugliest shit mankind has done throughout history?_

Again, Hamilton shoved that voice in his head aside and looked at the new data Moon was going over. "So what exactly have you gotten from the boy so far?"

"Encrypted data, but not as encrypted as it was before we ripped through his firewalls. Once we get it out of him, it's easily decrypted by our people and sent to various departments. In just twenty-four hours, we have been able to extract information regarding some new form of nanotech and control algorithms that not even Ray Palmer has been able to come up with." Moon pulled a thumb drive out of a nearby console and handed it Hamilton. "And this might interest you as well."

"What is it?"

Moon smiled again, looking even more sinister than before. "Something that your people working on the Monarch project would appreciate. If what one of our techs had speculated is true, it might even allow us the ability to reactivate and control the dark heart organism."

Hamilton glared at the man. "Can you be even more of a smug bastard than you already are?" he asked as he took the drive from moon."

"Actually, yes." Moon replied. "Now if you'll excuse me, let's see what else we can rip from this bastard's mind."

"Unnnngh..."

Both men turned to look at the prisoner who, to their surprise, was starting to regain consciousness. Moon glanced over at the one monitor displaying the prisoner's vital signs. "Incredible," he mused as he tapped a couple keys on a keyboard to bring up a small window displaying brain activity. "It would seem Mr. Flynn is beginning to regain consciousness even after our last session."

The young man's eyes slowly opened. "Ow...that fucking hurt," he said before focusing his attention on Moon and Hamilton. "Oh, look, it's two people I'm going to kill when I break loose."

Moon snickered and shook his head. "I'm afraid that's not going to happen, boy." He pushed another button and the control band on Flynn's head activated again, causing the young man to convulse again. "You see, Mr. Flynn," Moon continued, "now that we know the full extent of your capabilities, we have taken measures to keep you in line. That band, as well as the interface points at the base of your neck are quite effective at neutralizing or disrupting certain brain functions, notably the part that allows you to use that interesting little power of yours. And, if you should somehow manage to break free, we'll just have Ace turn you into a vegetable again."

Moon then glanced back at Hamilton for a moment. "Then again, you will be a vegetable when I'm done with you. Perhaps Amanda will let me have your brain when we conduct the autopsy."

Instead of answering, Flynn glared at the two men.

"Ah, I see the hopelessness of your situation has finally begun to sink in," Moon chuckled. "Perhaps if you cooperate, I might make your end quick."

Hamilton wasn't in agreement with Moon's statement. In fact, he was certain that glare was the sign of the prisoner making a decision and it wasn't a decision Hamilton was certain neither he, Moon, or anyone at CADMUS was going to like.

That suspicion was confirmed when Flynn managed to turn his head just enough to look directly at Moon. "I take that back, Doctor Moon," he said. "I'm going to kill you first." Then he cried out in agony as another surge of energy pulsed through his brain and the rest of his body, causing him to thrash about wildly for a couple seconds before falling back into unconsciousness.

Moon shook his head and chuckled softly. "Not in this lifetime, boy...not ever." He then looked over at Hamilton. "Is there anything else I can do for you, Emil?"

Hamilton shook his head. "No, that will be all. I will report your progress to the Director." He turned and started to exit the room, but paused in the doorway to look over his shoulder. "Oh, and Paul?"

"Yes?"

"Make sure the prisoner is secure. Because, if he gets free, he WILL follow up on his threat."

Moon smirked at the other man. "Unlikely," he said. "He is full of bravado and, like others before him, he will break and I will enjoy every moment of it."

Hamilton merely shook his head as he exited the room and continued down the corridor, ignoring a new round of screams from the prisoner followed by Moon's gleeful chuckles.

And, for what had to be the tenth time in the last few days, Hamilton wondered if he damned himself by signing on with CADMUS.

* * *

 **Somewhere Else**

David sat in a chair of a gray room and groaned softly as he tried to shake off the latest round of pain inflicted on his brain and body. The walls were gray, the ceiling was gray, the floor was gray, and even the light bulb on the ceiling seemed to cast a grayish/white tinge. It almost gave the effect that everything was in grayscale/black and white. Then again, it was just himself and the other individual in the "room".

"And welcome back your little 'happy place'," the room's other occupant sneered, giving a big toothy grin and running his hand through his overly spiky red hair.

David opened his eyes and focused on the man sitting in the chair across from him and shook his head. "Believe me, asshole, I really don't like being here, but it's either here or actually let that crazy fucker out there torture me." He then got up out of his chair and glared at Syndrome. "And you're not really him...so stop pretending."

"Oh, do you really want to go there, little boy?" Buddy Pine asked. "But wait, that's not true either, is it? You're not a real boy, Pinnochio...you're just a meat puppet that had a bio-organic chip and multiple AI based algorithms implanted in his head."

"And you're just a fragmented piece off a mental template of a psychotic little man who had some some daddy-issues and was so clueless about what to do with a woman that he had to steal one's genetic material to grow a child in a vat. Then again, I guess it beats playing with yourself while watching Mirage sleep at night via hidden security camera." David then smirked at his "father", tilting his head to one said. "And chances are even that didn't get you off, did it?"

"Son of a bitch!" Buddy snarled, taking a swing at his son. Instead of dodging it, David merely brought a hand up, catching the other man's fist.

"Again," David said, squeezing the man's hands, causing Buddy to wince in pain, "you seem to forget that you are not him. The real Buddy Pine didn't have the balls to fight his own battles." There was the sound of bones snapping and Buddy cried out in pain, dropping to the floor when David released his grip. "And, as stated before," he continued, "you're just a fragment of the old Case Black protocol that is part of what makes me who I am. Without me, you don't exist, plain and simple."

Buddy's form shifted suddenly, taking on David's appearance. "I maybe a fragment, Davy-boy, but I'm an important one. Without me, you wouldn't be the ruthless bastard that you are."

"Ruthless, perhaps," David countered. "But bastard...no. I know who my parents are, unfortunately, and I wish the bastard part was true."

"That's enough!" Both young men turned to see the dark haired girl in her mid-teens wearing a black jumpsuit standing there. "David, I know you have mental issues, but arguing with yourself is taxing my ability to maintain this mental pocket in your subconscious."

"Sorry, Ali," David said, snapping his fingers and making the doppelganger disappear. "Is that any better?"

Ace nodded and sat down in the empty chair Case Black had been using. "Much better," she replied. "How are you holding up?"

"Let's see, Doctor Moon shocks the shit out of me and is basically ripping things out of my mind with the equivalent of an electronic ice-pick. If it weren't for the fact that you were muting some of the pain, I probably would be in worse shape."

"You could just give him what he thinks he wants," Ace said.

David shook his head. "Not yet," he said. "I want to make him work at this for a few days…make him think he's earned it. If I simply gave them what they wanted, Waller and Moon would suspect something. No, it's better we do this the hard way."

"I don't like it," Ace said, shuddering slightly. "Every time you go through one of those sessions, he shows up here. He gets stronger every time you show up here, you know that?"

"I know, but it's a necessary evil...hell, HE's a very necessary evil." David then got up and knelt down so he was eye level with Ace. "Ali...Allison, look at me," he said, reaching up to gently hold her chin. "I'll get you out and away from here," he assured her. "I promise you that. You've been through hell and it almost makes what I went through look like a walk in the park."

The corner of Ace's usually expressionless mouth twitched slightly in a smile. "Liar," she said softly. "It's never easy for you."

David returned her smile and stepped away from her as he stood up again. "We all have our crosses to bare, kiddo; you just never deserved yours and I intend to see that those responsible will pay for it." Then he sighed and looked up at the ceiling. "And now, if you'll excuse me, I do believe Doctor Moon was brandishing the icepick again." He then faded out of existence, leaving Ace alone in the gray room.

Her smile faded as she remembered what she really saw in David's mind. Oh, she was certain he would be true to his word and he would help her. She could sense the warmth from him, his concern, his love for life and those he cared about. They had barely known each other for a week, but he already considered her a friend...it was something that Ace had never experienced before. Until she met David, everyone else she encountered saw her as either a monster or a weapon to be used. David didn't see her that way...he saw her as a frightened and abused girl.

And that's what scared the hell out of her. Because she had also seen how David views his enemies and felt the burning hatred he had for them. She had seen what he had done to the former Royal Flush gang members and, while she did not mourn their passing, she feared what David would to to CADMUS and anyone who happened to be caught in the crossfire. While he cared about her, he didn't give a damn about the rest of the world.

After all, she had looked into David's mind and had seen what he intended to do: David Pine Flynn was going rescue his friends (including her) and return to his world...and he didn't care if he ended up destroying this world to do it.

And part of her wasn't sure if she would be able, or even want, to talk him out of it when that time came.

That's what scared her the most.


	17. Interlude II

**Disclaimer:** Aberrant, owned by White Wolf/Onyx Entertainment. Justice League Unlimited, owned by WB and DC.

Author's Notes: Yes, as some of you who have read the other fic, DC comics does sort of exist in my Aberrant/Incredibles 'verse, but there are some major differences. If you've read the "Breach" arc in "Defiance and Insurrection", some pieces of the puzzle are going to fall in place here. I will admit, the idea for this crossover was inspired by the old Justice League episode "Legends" (and the events of that episode had been mentioned earlier in this story). Lost a good chunk of this chapter and to rewrite it. Oh...and about a certain individual with a ring...I'll admit I don't like the character (or the winged harpie for that matter), but from Stewart's point of view, Jay is a potential threat.

* * *

 **Arkham Asylum**

 **ISO Wing**

Jean-Paul Renard, aka Bomber, woke up on the bed of his cell and yawned. He promptly got up and spent a couple seconds stretching and working the kinks out of his neck before glancing at the digital clock that was located down the corridor and above the entryway to the wing.

 _Hmmm…I still wake up at 0430...old habits do return when I'm sleeping in a crappy environment._

He looked across the corridor at the cell Nick was in. He couldn't help smiling as he saw how Nick was half-hanging off the side of his bed, his back arched uncomfortably, his head barely touching the floor, and snoring away.

 _Heh...Slapstick, master of the 'sleep ninja' skill, able to sleep in almost any position no matter how uncomfortable._

"Hey, Stick, you awake?"

"ZZZZZZZzzzzzzZZZZZZZ…."

"Yo, Nicholas, wake up!"

"ZZZZZzzzZZZZZzzzZZZZ…"

"Mr. DeYorke, Jennifer Landers is currently waiting in your suite wearing nothing but bubble-wrap and is waiting to get popped."

"ZZZ* Wha-OW!"

Jean laughed as his friend fell out of bed and cursed under his breath.

"Dude, that is so not cool," Nick said as he crawled back up into his bed. "I was having this cool dream that involved me and a harem with a bunch of DC heroines."

"Dream later, fan-boy. For a fantasy world made real, it kind of sucks."

"Yeah, you got a point there, Jean," Nick admitted while he rubbed his head. "But could you have woken me up later to tell me this?"

"Okay, how about this," Jean said as he leaned against the bars of his cell. "We've been here for a few days, the guards are getting kind of lax, and the Clooney/Kilmer/Keaton reject hasn't been back to glare and rasp at us."

"You think it's today, don't you?" Nick asked, his irritation at being woken up replaced by mild concern.

"Well, if it isn't today, I think we'll push a few buttons and see what happens."

"Okay, what kind of time table do we have?"

"If nothing happens, we break out on our own...tonight."

"Tonight? You sure you want to do that?"

"Might as well," Jean replied with a shrug before stepping back from the bars. "In fact, I think the Dork Knight might be expecting it."

"Then why play into his hands?" Nick asked. "You know he'll probably be waiting for us."

"Probably, but we'll worry about it if we get to that point."

"You really think something's going to happen today?"

Jean stared at his friend for a moment and shook his head. "Nick, think about it. Some organization from THIS world used technology that dragged us here. I made enough of a stink about us being from another world, so I know they'll probably try to do something to shut us up."

"Or at least extract us to learn what we might know," Nick added.

"Now this is an awkward conversation to walk in on," a new voice said. Both men turned to see Edward Nygma, aka the Riddler, pushing a cart down the corridor. "Rise and shine, gentlemen, your breakfast has arrived."

"Um, no offense...Riddler, right? What are you doing here?" Nick asked.

"Bringing you two dunderheads breakfast," Nygma replied as he pulled the lid off the top of the cart. "I'm one of the more 'reformed and trustworthy' inmates around here, so I get privileges in exchange for doing menial work. For example, I get to bring you two breakfast."

"Wait a second, is that scrambled eggs and bacon?" Jean asked.

Nygma looked down at the food for a moment before nodding. "Indeed it is...and we also got you a carafe of orange juice."

"Okay, consider me intrigued," said Nick. "How do we rate that kind of food?"

"Think of it as gratitude from the cooking staff. You killed or seriously maimed some of the more dangerous inmates, so this is their way of saying thanks."

"That still doesn't explain why you're really down here," Jean said, folding his arms as his eyes narrowed in suspicion.

The corner of Nygma's mouth twitched slightly in a smile. "Tell me," he said, "you two act like deranged idiots, but how much of it is an act?"

"Oh, that's easy to answer," Nick chuckled. "I'm the deranged one, he's the idiot."

Jean responded a to Nick by giving him the finger before turning his attention to Nygma. "Let's just say that we're entertainers, Riddler. What you see is mostly an act, a distraction."

"For a couple of 'entertainers', you certainly know how to raise a body count," mused Nygma as he handed Nick and Jean each a plate through a narrow horizontal space in the doors of their cells. "Your world must be brutal if you consider yourselves mere 'entertainers'."

"Our world?" Jean asked, feigning confusion.

"Oh please," Nygma scoffed. "The guards have done nothing but talk about your ranting from being another world and, if you were truly delusional, the Batman wouldn't be paying you a visit."

"Damn, is anything actually kept secret around here?" Nick asked before stuffing some scrambled eggs into his mouth.

"This is Arkham, my friends," Nygma said, gesturing with his right arm. "Everyone has secrets and everyone else knows about half of them." He then pointed at Jean. "But yours...it must be a doozy if someone is trying to kill you."

"Well, the poisoned food isn't too bad," Nick said with his mouth full.

Nygma rolled his eyes. "At least give us some credit. If you idiots can take getting stabbed or beaten to a bloody pulp and heal up from it, I doubt poisoning your food would work."

Jean waited until he finished his own mouthful of scrambled eggs before speaking. "Okay, Riddler, let's cut to the chase. You obviously overheard our conversation."

Nygma grinned at him. "Obviously."

"So what do you want?"

"You intend to escape, do you not?"

"Of course we intend to escape," Nick snorted. "It's what we do when idiots capture us. We escape and tend to kill most of the people who were dumb enough to lock us up to begin with."

"No," Jean corrected, "YOU tend to kill most of the people in the area, I'm not an indiscriminate killer."

Nick pretended to cough, mumbling "Moscow" under his breath, receiving a death glare from Jean. "Oh, c'mon, you know it's true," he said before a guilty look crossed his face. "Granted, they did shoot you full of holes and I did kind of use you as human kevlar, causing you to go into a rage when you regenerated." Then his expression brightened. "But hey, it put you in the Elite top five, especially when you dropped that missile silo on Sickle and Hammer and detonated the nuke underground."

"Can we please not talk about that?" Jean half snarled.

"Boys, I think we're getting off subject here," Nygma interjected. "You two intend to escape and I want to go with you."

Both Nick and Jean paused for a moment, a matching thoughtful look on their faces.

"Gee, I dunno, Riddler," Nick said. "No offense, you might be a grade-A badass here on this world, but I'm not sure you want to ride with us."

"Yeah," Jean added, "you're asking for a whole new level of crazy shit if you come with us. A lot of people are going to be coming after us, and we're not just talking about the Dork Knight and the Spandex/Pajama brigade that he hangs out with."

Nygma smiled at them and adjusted his glasses. "Perhaps you should listen to my proposal first."

Nick and Jean glanced at each other for a moment before shrugging. "Okay, I suppose it couldn't hurt," Jean said.

"First, a question for you two. When you break out, where are you going to go? If you are truly not from this world, you have no resources, no equipment, and no place to lie low."

After a couple seconds of silence, Nick nodded in agreement. "Dammit, Jean. He's right...though that's never stopped us before." He then looked back at Nygma. "Okay, Riddler, you got a point. But Jean and I are used to winging it on the run."

"Perhaps, but that is in your world, not ours," Nygma countered, "You have no contacts or places to go to ground. And believe me, gentlemen; if the Justice League doesn't get you, the various shadowy cabals within the US government will. I can help you."

Jean glanced back at Nick, a questioning look on his face. After thinking about it for a couple seconds, Nick shrugged and nodded.

"Okay," Jean said. "Let's say we take you up on this offer? What's in it for you?"

"Aside from the obvious freedom, not much," Nygma admitted. "But, if what I suspect is true, I'll want in on your little adventure."

"And what is is it that you suspect, Riddler?" Nick asked.

This time Riddler's amusement faded and his expression became more serious. "There's a group within the US government," he said. "A group that has pretty much decided to take matters into their own hands when dealing with threats posed by people like me or beings like the Justice League."

Nick and Jean couldn't help laughing at that.

"Wait, hold on a second," Nick said. "No offense, but your Justice League are heroes. I don't see why your government would view them as a threat."

"They may have felt that way at one time, but things changed, especially after the incident with the Justice Lords."

"The Justice Lords," Jean repeated. "Um, never heard of them."

"Then allow me to enlighten you about that whole little debacle and a couple other incidents that you may not be aware of," Nygma said as he leaned on the cart before proceeding to tell them about the world's encounter with the Justice League from another Earth in a parallel reality, a couple alien invasions, and an incident involving a nanotech based life form that had been code named by the US military as "the dark heart".

Fifteen minutes later, after hearing what Nygma had to say, Jean had a thoughtful look on his face while Nick only dropped back on the bed in his cell and laughed softly.

Riddler gave the latter a concerned look. "I assume, from your reaction, that you don't believe me?" he asked.

"Oh, we believe you," Jean replied. "It's just more that what we expected and beyond what we ever imagined."

"Oh hell yeah," Nick enthusiastically agreed. "Way better than the comics and movies."

That last comment startled Nygma. "Comics and movies?"

Jean gave Nick a sharp look, but Nick merely shrugged.

"Trust me, Riddler, you're better off not knowing," Jean said.

"I dunno', Jean," Nick said. "We are in an insane asylum and Eddie's technically insane. He might be able to handle what we tell him, or he could just dismiss us as batshit insane."

Before Jean could reply, Nygma stepped up to the door of his cell. "According to rumors about you, Mr. Renard, you were an insane and ranting lunatic when they brought you in screaming that, and I quote, 'none of this real, you're just stories, scribbles in a goddamn comic book'. Maybe I am insane, but I can tell from one look in your eyes that you, good sir, are not."

"What about me?" Nick asked.

Nygma glanced over his shoulder at Nick. "You, however, are, as you so aptly put it, 'batshit insane', but it's a coherent form of insanity. While you may act without rhyme and reason, you obviously do have an ultimate objective." He then returned his attention to Jean. "But you, Renard, are not. You seem like more of a planner."

Nick gave the man a tiny smile. "And you, Riddler, are more than just a 'smart criminal with a themed image'," he said.

Nygma returned the man's smile. "In my profession, I tend to study the people I deal with. Just from the way you two move and act around each other, I'm guessing you both served in the military together, perhaps even knew each other long before that." He cocked his head to one side, starting at Jean for a moment before he continued. "I'm guessing the two of you go back to grade school...possibly boarding school, perhaps a military academy."

"Damn, you're good," Nick laughed. "What do you say, Jean? I mean, he does have a point. He could help us lie low and get the resources we need to figure out who dragged us here."

"And you could always kill me if you get the most remote sense that I'm setting you up," Nygma offered.

"Yeah," Nick said before suddenly realizing Nygma said. "Hey, I wasn't going to say that."

Nygma shrugged. "Actually, you were silently thinking it and, if I were in your position, I'd be of the same mind."

"And that doesn't bother you?" Jean asked.

This time, Nygma actually laughed out loud. "Mr. Renard, I'm an inmate that lives in one of most hellish mental health facilities on the planet, there are people...no...scratch that...there are THINGS here that are scarier than you two. Now, do we have a deal?"

Jean thought about if for a couple more seconds, then nodded. "Fine, just be nearby around dinner time."

"How will I know when it's going down?"

"Oh, believe us." Nick gave Nygma an evil grin. "You'll know...just keep your head down when it starts."

* * *

 _ **The Watchtower**_

 _ **Somewhere in Earth Orbit**_

Booster Gold, a self-publicizing, cocky, sarcastic, and overly annoying superhero (but actually a nice guy) from the twenty-fifth century frowned as he studied the readings on his quantum-computer gauntlet.

 _That can't be right,_ he thought as he thumbed one of the holographic buttons, summoning a mini three-dimensional hologram of Jay Robertson who was talking to Supergirl and Flash at a table on the other side of the cafeteria.

"Is something wrong, sir?" asked the tiny golden-egg shaped robot hovering just over his left shoulder. Then the glowing red eye on the upper half of the robot's body began to brighten. "Um, boss...those readings can't be right, can they?"

"No Skeets," Booster replied. "But there's nothing wrong with the equipment."

"Is that possible, sir? According to the readings there, that guy is a time traveler."

"According to his story, he was thrown back in time nearly seventy years."

"Yes, but the Quantum readings are way off on that. It's almost as if it were other-dimensional in origin.

"I'm aware of that, but look at the energy signature he's kicking out just sitting idle. I've only seen sigs like that coming off of people like Orion or Darkseid." Booster frowned as he tapped up on his gauntlet, replacing the three dimensional of Robertson with Zoe Kilmarten. "Zoe Kilmarten's signature is similar but not quite as powerful...it seems more centralized and not as broad spectrum as-"

*SLUUUUUUUUUUURRRRRRRRRRRRP!*

Both Booster and his floating companion turned and saw a the aforementioned pink-haired leather jacket and goggle wearing speedster finishing off another mocha shake standing there. She tilted her head to one side and gave them an innocent grin. "Oh, sorry," she said, her voice sounding nowhere near being innocent, "didn't mean to interrupt your stalker scanning."

"Hey, the boss is not like that," Skeets snapped, defending his boss/friend.

"Cool, you got a fully functional AI?" There was actual curiosity in the girl's voice. "He almost sounds like he actually has a personality."

"Um, he does," Booster replied, unsure of what to do about being caught off guard by one of the people he was investigating.

"So, is it just following a complex algorithm or is does it follow an adaptive matrix that allows for frequent coding adjustments when dealing with-"

"Excuse me, I'm standing right here!" Skeets called out, his red eye brightening in irritation.

"Awww," Zoe said as she reached out and patted the little robot on the top of its body. "He even looks cute when he gets pissed off. And technically, you're floating, not standing."

"Sir, she's taunting me!"

"Quit whining, Hal," Zoe snickered. "Don't start cutting life support and locking pod bay doors because you're having a tantrum."

"DAMMIT, SIR!"

"Skeets, take it easy," Booster said as he gently reached up and pulled Skeets away from Zoe. "She's trying to agitate you."

Zoe nodded winked at Skeets. "Of course I am, it's what I do best." Then her gaze fell on Booster's gauntlet and her eyes narrowed slightly. "Interesting device you got there."

"Oh this?" Booster asked holding up his arm. "It's just a quantum gauntlet, it allows me to manipulate the quantum field, which lets me to do cool things like fly, fire energy blasts, create force fields...and the computer on it allows me to do all sorts of cool things too like interface with networks and download the latest stuff off I-Tunes." He then gave her sheepish grin. "Although, truthfully, 'quantum gauntlet' was the name I gave it. Originally, they called it a 'Zero Point Energy' Module."

A startled look appeared on Zoe's face. "Z-zero point energy," she repeated.

"Yeah, that's right, lady," Skeets snarked as he started to float in Zoe's direction. "What's the matter, is the concept to above your intelligence level?"

"Okay, that's enough, Skeets," Booster said before turning back to smile at Zoe. "Forgive him, he's a little hyper-active, but he means well." He then extended his right hand to Zoe. "As you probably heard, he's Skeets and I'm Booster Gold."

Zoe started to shake the man's hand, but suddenly stopped, her eyes widening in shock. "Booster Gold...as in Booster Gold Incorporated?"

This time, it was Booster's turn to look surprised as he broke the handshake. "Wait, how do you know about that?" he asked. "We're just still in the discussion stages about that."

Zoe stood there speechless for a moment and, from the expression on her face, Booster could tell that something was bothering her. "Okay," she finally said. "I want you to give me an honest answer...does the name 'Mitchell James Carter' mean anything to you?"

"Uh, sir?" All snarkiness was gone from Skeet's voice, now replaced by deep concern. "That's one of-"

Booster cut the robot off. "Yeah, Skeets, I know." He then turned his attention back to Zoe. "That's not my real name."

"But you know it, don't you?" Zoe's expression started to become one of guarded hostility.

"Of course I do," Booster responded. "It's one of the aliases I'm going to use when I start my business venture. I mean, I do need a secret ID, right? It's what all heroes do, right?"

Zoe looked like she was about to unload with a venomous remark, but her hostility suddenly gave way to confusion as she shook her head. "But no, that can't be right," she said to herself out loud. "You can't be him...you're what, late twenties, early-thirties? He was older than dirt." Then she looked at Booster's gauntlet. "But...it's almost the exact same thing."

Before Booster could ask Zoe what she was talking about, the young woman vanished in a pink blur to reappear next to Robertson and grab him by the arm before disappearing with him in another pink blur. Booster looked over at Skeets who floated there and stared back at him with his single glowing red eye.

"Well," Skeets finally said, "that was weird."

* * *

"What the hell?" Those were the first words out of Jay Robertson's mouth when he realized that he was now standing in a corridor somewhere on the Watch Tower as opposed to talking to Supergirl and The Flash in the cafeteria like he was a few seconds ago. He saw Zoe standing there in front of him, goggles pulled up on her head and a worried expression on her face. "Um,. Zoe, care to explain why you yanked me out of a middle of an amusing conversation with Kara and Wally."

"Sorry," Zoe said. "It's just...things are making sense…but they're not." She started to pace in front of Jay for a few sconds before stopping in front of him. "I think I met someone who is connected to all this," she finally said.

"Um, what? Care to explain that one?"

Zoe shook her head for a moment as she tried to organize her thoughts. "Okay, how much do you remember before you were...you know…."

"Before I was blasted through a portal to another universe by Divis Mal and sent sixty years in that world's past?" Jay finished for her. "Zoe, I have an eidetic memory...I think it's safe to say I remember."

"Okay, remember when David was attacked by that old geezer using technology similar to his own ZP tech this last Christmas?" Then she stopped when she realized what she had just said. "Well, last Christmas for me...for you it's been-"

Jay rolled his eyes. "I know what you mean, Zoe. And yeah...from what I understand it happened just after I visited him."

"Yeah, well, the old geezer who did it, Mitchell James Carter...was the founder and CEO of a global conglomerate called 'Booster Gold Enterprises'. Basically had it's hands in everything from technology, to fashion, and entertainment. Hell, they were the ones behind DC comics."

"Okay, so you ran into some scary rich old guy who has ZP gauntlets and may have been the one who created this universe for people like us to read back home." Jay gave her a disbelieving glare. "Do you have any idea how lame that sounds? Though I guess it would make a good Twilight Zone script."

"Jack, I'm serious. There's a guy here named Booster Gold here. I talked to him in the cafeteria and he had a gauntlet that looks a hell of a lot like the one that old geezer used on David." Zoe suddenly stopped and blinked a couple times as she started to remember something Jay had said moments earlier. "Wait...hold on," she said. "Did you say Divis Mal blasted you through a portal?"

"Yes, I did, but that's not important at the moment," Jay said, moving quickly to change the subject. "And you're certain this Booster Gold has a ZP gauntlet?" he asked.

"Yeah, but he's only in his twenties or early thirties...it can't be him, could it?"

Jay thought about it for a couple seconds, trying to figure out what he remembered of a fictional universe and what was present in this one. "Zoe, I was never much for these kind of comics, but was there a character called 'Booster Gold'?"

Zoe shook her head. "No...but that was the name of the company that created DC comics. It can't be a coincidence."

"You're right, it isn't," Jay said. "I think we need to get back to the cafeteria and talk to that guy." He then paused and looked around. "Um...which way do we go?"

"How about a detention cell until we get this all sorted out?"

Zoe rolled her eyes and Jay let out an annoyed groan as they turned to face the owner of the new voice.

"John Stewart, why am I not surprised?" Jay asked. "Then again, you were always an ass even when you were just a marine."

For a moment, there was a ripple of emotion across Stewart's face before it became a mask of emotionless neutrality. "Jay Robertson," he stated as two more figures dressed in Green Lantern uniforms flanked him on each side. "You have been deemed a potential threat to Earth and the sector in which it is located. You are to stand down and submit to our custody immediately until we determine the threat you and the others represent."

Jay slowly shook his head. "I can't believe this...I've been living on this planet for the last sixty years. How in the hell can I be a threat compared to what you idiots and the League face on a daily basis?"

Instead of rising to the bait, Stewart and the other two Lantern's raised their arms, their rings beginning to glow an ominous green.

"So, what's it going to be, Robertson?" Stewart asked. "You two coming quietly, or do we put you down?"

* * *

Author's Note 2: Yeah, this is kind of sudden, but as I mentioned, this is Stewart we're talking about and I could see him viewing Jay and Zoe as possible threats, particularly Jay (who, according to J'onn is kicking out power levels on par with Darkseid and Orion). As for the other two Green Lanterns, yes, I left their identities intentionally vague, but I'll give you hint: They're both human, but Hal is not one of them.

Next Chapter: Mayhem at the Watchtower.


	18. Mayhem: The Watchtower

Disclaimer: Aberrant, owned by Onyx Publishing. The Incredibles, owned by Disney Pixar. Justice League, owned by Warner Brothers/DC/CW...whoever.

Author's Note: If you're Green Lantern fans and you're reading this, I want to apologize. I'm not a fan and I didn't think to highly of John Stewart and Guy Gardner, but I thought Kyle Rayner was okay...though, for me, Green Lantern will always be Hal Jordan (and I'm not talking about Ryan Reynolds in CGI animated pajamas). And, while I'm at it, sorry about Hawkgirl.

Author's Note, part Two: Now some people will bitch about Jack Parr/Jay Robertson being OP. First off, anyone who has seen The Incredibles has seen how powerful Jack was just as an infant. Keep in mind he's had nearly sixty some odd years in this world to hone/perfect his power and, luckily, he was taken in by the late Steve Trevor who kept him mostly level headed. To give you an idea of Jack/Jay's power level...think Darkseid...but without the control and he knows that if he ever cuts loose, it could possibly be an "extinction level event" for planet Earth...which is why the Lanterns are there. To put it another way, he's technically a god forcing himself to be a mere "demigod", which is why Galatea was able to hurt him a little.

* * *

 _ **The Watchtower**_

 _ **Somewhere in Earth Orbit**_

Jay glanced over at Zoe who shrugged her shoulders as if to say, "Oh yeah, we so saw this coming." He then shook his head and returned his attention to the three Green Lanterns as he let out a sigh of disappointment. "Do Superman and the others know about this?" he asked.

"It doesn't matter what the blue boy scout thinks," sneered one of the Green Lanterns, a Caucasian man with a buzz-cut hair style that Jay recognized from an intelligence briefing Steve had shown him a couple years ago.

"Gardner." Jay didn't bother hiding his amusement. "Still in the Corps and still pissing on Jordan's memory, I see." He glanced over at the other Green Lantern, another Caucasian wearing an emerald green mask. "And you must be the Keanu-looking goof in the unitard known as Kyle Rayner."

Rayner, to his credit, managed to keep his expression calm. "Just stand down, Robertson," he said. "It doesn't need to get ugly."

"You know, you almost have me convinced to go along and come quietly," Jay said. "If it makes you feel any better, Tommy Monaghan was right about you. You may be an uptight prick, but at least you actually believe you're doing the right thing." He shook his head and gave the younger Lantern sad smile. "Then again, it's always the storm troopers who never question their orders or the motivations of the one giving those orders." He then turned to look back at John Stewart. "And, what exactly was your motivation going behind Big Blue's back, Stewart?"

"The fact that you are a threat to this planet," Stewart replied, keeping his glowing ring pointed at Jay. "Shayera told us what you were capable of…what you did."

"Oh, really?" Jay's eyes narrowed as he looked past the three green lanterns and focused on a certain winged figure lurking in the shadows. "Might as well come on out, Hawkgirl," he called out. "Batman does a better job at hiding in shadows anyway. And he's not cowardly enough to have others face his enemies for him."

"Shut your mouth," Stewart snarled.

"Jack...maybe you shouldn't piss them off," Zoe said.

"It's okay, Zoe," Jay assured her. "They may outnumber us, but the odds are not in their favor."

"Big words, boy," Gardner snapped. "But that's all they are."

"Keep your panties on, Guy," Jay fired back. "I'll get to you after I address Harpy and the angry black man with a chip on his shoulder." He turned back to Stewart and Hawkgirl. "So, Stewart, you and your little club think I'm a threat, do you?"

"Given the fact that you're on the same level of Darkseid when it comes to power and you don't answer to anyone, yeah, I'd consider you a threat."

"Wow, hypocritical much?" Zoe said, earning a glare from Hawkgirl. "Lady, keep it up and I'm going to shove that mace so far up your-"

"Zoe, ease off," Jay said over his shoulder. "I got this, find Wally and the others."

Before Zoe could take off, however, a green bolt of energy hit her in the side, throwing her across the corridor and into a wall, knocking her out cold. "I don't think so, bitch," Gardner sneered.

"Guy, that wasn't cool," Rayner said, shaking his head in disapproval.

"Maybe not, but she's a threat, just like her boyfriend here."

Jay momentarily suppressed his anger to shudder at that comment. "Okay, two things," he said. "One, Zoe and I are not an item...that is just wrong on soooooo many levels."

"And the other thing?" Gardner asked, his voice laden with disgust.

Jay smiled at him. "You just turned me into an actual threat." His eyes flashed a blue-white color before a blast of quantum energy exploded outward from his body, knocking the three Lanterns and Harkgirl off their feet. Before any of them could recover, Jay had disappeared in blur of super-speed before reappearing to pick up a stunned Guy Garnder by the throat and slamming him into a wall, denting it. "Are you happy now?" he asked before he suddenly turned and threw the choking Gardner into Rayner who was just starting to get up, knocking him back to the ground. "Okay, people," Jay taunted, "you want this so bad, I'll give it to you."

Stewart fired a bolt of energy that sent Jay staggering back as he raised his arms in front of his face. Unfortunately, that's all it did. When Jay lowered his arms, his eyes were glowing even brighter than before but had a glowing green tint to them. "Gee, thanks for the power-up, Stewart." He then raised an arm and fired a barrage of energy bolts of his own that tore through the hastily erected shield Stewart tried to protect himself with and sent him sprawling to the floor. "And just think, I haven't even started with you losers, yet."

"Fuck you!" Gardner screamed as he punched Jay in the face with a force-field encased fist that caught the younger man just as he was turning to face the new threat.

The blow snapped Jay's head to the side, but he rolled with the punch and came back with one of his own as Gardner tried to move in with a follow up on his initial attack. Jay's fist connected to base of Gardner's chin, snapping Guy's head backwards and actually lifting him off the ground. Jay followed it up with a kick that caught the Green Lantern member in stomach and sent the man into another wall, leaving another dent.

Jay approached Gardner as the man dropped to the ground, groaning in pain. "What's wrong, Guy?" he asked. "Don't like it when someone stands up to you, do you? Then again, being the bully that you are, this must be a new experience for you having your target fight back."

Jay was about to kick the downed man, but was interrupted by a war cry causing him to look up and see Hawkirl charging at him with her battle-mace in hand. For a moment, everything froze around Jay as he contemplated what he should do next. Very briefly, he considered the possibility of killing Shayera Hol and maiming the Green Lanterns, but he decided against it no matter how easy it would have been. He could see John Stewart recovered and backing up his former lover in her attack.

 _It would be so fucking easy,_ he mused to himself. _But Steve wouldn't want this...and it would piss off the rest of the League, especially Diana, if I decided to remove Stewart's head from his body. Fine, if I can't kill them, I can show them how outclassed they are and rip them apart emotionally._

Instead of moving out of the way or blocking the oncoming blow, Jay braced himself and stood there as Hawkgirl swung at him. At the very last moment, his hand suddenly came up and caught the mace and held it there inches from his face, his cold expression a contrast to the wide-eyed shock on the Thanagarian's face. Even John Stewart stopped in his tracks while Jay stood there, glaring at a shocked Shayera who was now trying to pull away only to find that the young man was keeping a firm grip on her weapon.

"Killian, Timothy," Jay said softly, "age seven."

"Wh-what?"

"Killian, Sarah," Jay continued, ignoring the woman's question. "Age thirty, loving mother." He then started to pull on the mace as he kept talking, his voice taking a cold edge. "Conner, Mike age forty, local business owner and little league coach. McCoy, Jenny, age seventeen. Miller, Terell James, twenty four." He continued to pull on Shayera's weapon even as she struggled to hold on to it. "I could keep going, because I have a hundred and fifty-seven more names to go." He suddenly pulled hard, yanking the mace out of her hands before tossing it aside, catching Gardner in the face as he tried to sneak up on Jay from behind. There was an audible crack and Gardner dropped back down to the ground clutching his nose.

"One hundred and sixty two names total, Shayera Hol," Jay half-snarled. "But they don't mean anything to you compared to the lives of your fellow warriors, do they? One hundred and sixty two people who protested your little group coming into town and declaring martial law." He paused for a moment, swallowing back the bile in the back of his throat as he remembered the aftermath of the Thanagarian invasion. "Your brave little band of warriors gunned down one hundred and sixty-two civilians to, and I quote, 'restore order' in Challengerville, Colorado. One hundred sixty-two graves that I personally had to dig."

Shayera's eyes widened in horror as she realized what Jay was saying. "I-I didn't know," she managed to say.

"That's bullshit and you know it," Jay snapped. "You knew the kind of 'warriors' your people were. Don't tell me you didn't suspect what they were capable of when occupying 'hostile territory'...and you wonder why I went 'total war' on your people? I won't lie to you, Shayera, I took great joy burning your countrymen to a fucking cinder and stringing up their remains for the rest of your race to see...yeah, I became a fucking monster that moment, but guess what?" Jay's voice softened again. "It didn't bring back the people they killed and I still had one hundred and sixty-two graves to dig."

"So you felt guilty," Stewart said. "But that doesn't make you a hero, just a killer with a conscience."

"And you, Stewart, you were a Marine...congratulations, a bad ass killing machine for Uncle Sam," Jay fired back. "How many times did you have to 'stand by' and follow orders 'not to get involved' when you saw some civilians gunned down because they were 'not part of the mission'? You're right, I'm nothing like you so called heroes...I can't sit and let shit like that happen or conveniently ignore it and fool myself into thinking it never happened.

"One thing Steve taught me is that, sometimes, we have to do some bad things to keep evil shit from happening. But he also taught me that if the consequences of such actions stop bothering us, then we have become just as bad as the evil we are fighting against. So, yeah, I'll admit my actions may seem like overkill, but let me be the first to tell you that, unlike you, I don't push it away and think it's okay because it was 'for the greater good'. Because, if I truly believed 'in the greater good' as you do, I would have incinerated your asses right here and there would have been nothing you or the rest of the League could have done about it."

Jay then lowered his hands and shook his head. "You know what, we're done here," he said. "I think I've proven that I can take all of you on and, if you keep pushing, I'll be the only one standing and then you're going to have to explain to Superman and the others why you brought two members of the Green Lantern Corps in to detain me. But that's only if you're lucky enough to have survived."

"That will not be necessary," announced J'onn J'onzz as he phased out of a nearby bulkhead and into the corridor to stand between Jay and Stewart and Shayera. "Robertson, please check on Miss Kilmarten. Lantern, Hawkgirl, come with me."

Jay nodded and started to walk over to where Zoe was starting to regain consciousness. "Zoe, you okay?" he asked as he knelt down to help her up.

"Ow," Zoe said a couple seconds later as she rubbed her head. "Who hit me?"

Jay pointed over his shoulder with his thumb at Guy Gardner who was being helped up off the ground by Kyle Rayner. "That idiot over there," he replied. "Don't worry, he won't be doing anything else. Let's just get back to the cafeteria and find Kara and Wally, okay?"

"Okay," Zoe said as she took Jay's hand and he helped her stand up.

"Yous." Both Jay and Zoe turned to see an angry Guy Gardner pointing an accusing finger in their direction while holding his broken and still bleeding nose. "Dis ish not ober!"

"Easy Guy," Rayner said, standing in front of his fellow Green Lantern. "It's over, we gotta' stand down."

"Da hell we dooth!"

Jay shook his head as he glared at the two Green Lanterns. "And by the way, I still stand by my statement that your precious Green Lantern Corps has lowered its standards. Hal would never have let his personal biases cloud his judgement like you have. Remember that." He and Zoe then turned and started to walk away.

"Son of a bit-" Gardner was cut off in mid-sentence as Rayner brought up a green force bubble to stop him from charging after Robertson.

Jay glanced back over his shoulder before looking back to Zoe. "I rest my case, your honor," he said, causing the younger speedster to giggle as they left the others behind.

* * *

End Notes: Okay...thus ends the revising/editing/repost of the old stuff. Probably missed some errors, but I'll come back and correct them when I catch them and I think I got most of the major one. Anyway...chapter 19 will be new stuff.


	19. Of Assassins, Therapy, Imps, and Gods

_Disclaimer_ : JLU, owned by DC/Warner Brothers. Aberrant, owned by Onyx/White Wolf Publishing. Incredibles, owned by Pixar.

Author's Notes: Not too sure about this chapter, but yes, it's a new one. And yes I'm playing fast and loose with some DCU canon...but hey, it's JLU and they obviously veered from DCU canon quite a bit. So yeah, Grant Wilson is still alive in this 'verse (at the moment). Does that mean Papa might show up? That's up to you. Also, I hope I don't piss off Harley fans in this...but I kind of threw a little twist in her origins. Oh...and yes, there are some references to the main WoA fics (notably WoA: Defiance and Insurrection) and Divis Mal does show up in this fic. Trust me when I say these stories are connected . Oh...and I want you to imagine Harley's therapist being played by Matt Smith.

* * *

 _ **En Route to Arkham Asylum**_

Grant Wilson sat in the back of the armored transport along with the rest of his team. He and two others were dressed in prison grade orange jumpsuits while the other four members were dressed in body armor and wearing the uniforms of Gotham City's Special Crimes Task Force. He smiled as Rodriguez put the cuffs on him while he was still talking in his headset.

"This is Ravager, we just cleared the outer checkpoint," he said.

"Good," replied Amanda Waller on the other end of the line. "It's very simple, Wilson. Locate the two targets and eliminate them. I don't care how you do it; kill them quietly, kill them brutally, unleash hell and leave nothing but a goddamn crater, just make sure that you kill those two bastards and that they are dead." The line promptly went dead on the other hand and Grant shook his head as he took the headset off and tossed back to Rodriguez.

"Damn, she's grouchy."

"Probably still upset that Big Belly Burger isn't twenty four hours anymore," Rodriguez said, causing everyone to laugh.

"Ouch." Grant waggled his finger in a mock-scolding manner at his second in command. "Damn, Will...that's fucking harsh. Besides, Golden Corral is still open, so she can still graze there...too bad she has to have them close it to the public for three hours."

Everyone laughed again at Waller's expense and Grant Wilson couldn't blame them. Waller was as evil and vindictive as she was massively obese. However, once the laughter subsided, the atmosphere became more serious.

"Okay, guys, let's do a quick recap." This time, Grant was all business. "Phillips, you and Morris need to blend in with the general population once they process you. Valesco, you stay down in the motor-pool with the transport and monitor all transmissions."

The "officer" driving the vehicle nodded before closing the small view port that separated the driver compartment from the transport compartment.

"Davis, make your way to the command center, you got the security card?"

Another of the "officers" in body armor nodded and smiled. "Yep, and it's upgraded to get me right into the main hub. Once I'm in, say the word and I will open every fucking door in that facility."

Grant paused for a moment and looked at the younger man. "Davis, if I didn't know any better, I'd dare say you want to see those psychopaths unleashed."

"Well, hell yeah, it'll be better than MMA fights."

"You're a sick bastard." Grant's face then broke into grin. "I like that. Okay, Thomas, you and Rodriguez are with me. You'll be taking me to ISO wing since I'm one of the more violent offenders that's being brought in."

This got a couple smirks from his crew.

"Do I get to taser you this time?" Rodriguez asked innocently.

Grant glared at this teammate. "You just want payback for Panama."

"Dude, you shot me in the ass."

"It saved your life, didn't it?"

"I would have seen that mine!"

"No you wouldn't have."

A knock on the wall from the driver got their attention. "Yo, Grant, we've arrived," Valesco called out.

"Okay, game-on people," Grant announced, getting serious again as his crew checked their gear one last time. "Will, you got my-"

Rodriguez smiled as he patted the black leg pouch he was wearing. "Right here when you need it."

"Awesome." Grant smiled at his crew and leaned back against the wall of the vehicle and grinned as he held up his cuffs. "Enjoy the moment, people. This the only time you get to see your fearless leader chained up and wearing prison orange."

"I think it really brings out the color to your eyes, man."

"Shut up, Will."

* * *

 _ **Arkham Asylum**_

 _ **Therapy Room 5**_

Harley Quinn, formerly known as Harleen Qunizell, former pschology student and intern at Arkham Asylum, then actual Arkham inmate after the Joker managed to turn her into the psychotic woman that she was now, managed to only wince slightly as she stood up from the chair she was sitting in and stretched out her arms.

"See, Doc," she said as she looked over at the young man sitting in another chair writing something down on a clip-board. "Pretty much as good as new...at least physically."

"And mentally?" Mitch Pickens asked, not even the least bit intimidated by the slight snarl that briefly appeared on Harley's face.

"And what do you want me to say, Doc?" Harley snapped as she dropped back in her chair, wincing again as she realized that her ribs weren't completely healed from...from...she didn't want to think about it and pushed it aside. "That I'm fine? We both know that's a bullshit answer. If I told you that, you would just assume I was lying and, to be honest with you, I doubt I'll ever be fine."

"Well, no shit, Harley," Pickens fired back. "And I'm not asking you for a bullshit answer. I'm asking how you're doing after the fact that you spent the last ten months recovering from the Joker beating you to a bloody pulp and going through physical therapy. I know if you just say 'fine' that you are lying through your teeth. I just want an honest answer from you...good, bad, shitty...I don't care. It's not going to change anything."

Harley stared at the man for a few seconds and wondered if there was more to the plain looking man than he let on. "Y'know, you're the first therapist I've had who doesn't call me Harleen in some sad attempt to re-connect me to my past self. Why?"

Pickens shrugged as he briefly jotted something down on his clipboard. "Because, Harley, you're broken and damaged goods," he bluntly replied. "There's no point trying to reassemble something that doesn't exist after it has been shattered and reassembled into something else by a psychotic fuck-job. All one can do is attempt to remove the primary influence and see if you are capable of functioning on your own."

"Ouch," Harley said, frowning slightly as she realized something. "Y'know, I think I would be pissed off and would have probably tried to rip your eyes out for insulting Mistah J like that."

"Are you?" Pickens asked, setting the clipboard aside and leaning slightly. "After all, you got your chance. I'm unarmed, you're not restrained, and you're right. In the past, you would have not hesitated to do that. So what's changed?"

"Maybe I'm not so loyal to him after he beat me to a pulp and left me behind," Harley replied.

Pickens smiled at her. "Maybe...but he's beaten you and you've been hospitalized before, but you happily went back to him then. So, ask yourself; how is this any different?"

Harley shook her head. "I don't know...it's just…hard to explain. Don't get me wrong, it's not like I have a sudden change of heart and want to be a law abiding citizen. I just don't feel this urge to obediently follow him like some dog beaten into submission." Then her eyes narrowed in suspicion. "Okay, what did you do to me?"

Pickens grinned at her. "Not much," he replied. "in fact, nothing at all in the mind alteration department. So, no Harley, there were no 'secret operations' or some 'specialized drug regimen' that you were subjected to. All we did was pretty much flush your system of all those nasty toxins that were in your system."

"Whoa, hold up," Harley said as she suddenly bolted out of her chair. "What do you mean by 'toxins' in my system."

The therapist merely shrugged at her. "It's kind of funny, really. One of the trauma docs who was new on the job, decided to order some extensive blood work done on you, just to be on the safe side and make sure there were no nasty bacterial infections. Apparently, he had yet to adopt the whole 'this is an Arkham inmate, so we don't have to give them really good treatment' attitude. And, guess what they discovered?"

"What?" Harley asked, now curious as to where Pickens was going with this.

Pickens stood up out of his chair, pulled a couple sheets of paper off his clip board and handed them to Harley. "How about you read for yourself?" There was a mischievous glint in his eye as he spoke. "It's only a couple measly sheets of paper with three charts and eight paragraphs, but it's enough to rock your world."

Harley gave the man a wary eye as she took the papers from him. "What do you mean by that?"

"I think the real question you should be asking yourself, Harley Quinn, is whether or not you are capable of handling the truth. Yes, it does tend to set one free, but there's usually some pain involved in the process as they break loose. And sometimes, that pain is too much that it breaks them. Needless to say, I'm curious to see how you're going to react in the next few minutes."

"Oh please," Harley scoffed as she started to read the report she was given. "You therapist types really have a flair for the over-dramatic that...puts...people….like….me…."

Harley's voice trailed off and her hands started to tremble slightly as she finished reading the first page and started to read the second. "No…no," she said, shaking her head. "It's not possible."

"Oh, it's very possible, Ms. Quinn. Toxicology reports don't lie." Pickens' voice softened slightly as he continued speaking. "Yes, the Joker is good at reading and manipulating people, but he was also smart enough to give himself an extra edge when it presented itself. After all, when you're associating with people like Tetch and Crane on a semi-regular basis, it's kind of hard to not 'talk shop', trade ideas, or even loan some customized toxins that would allow a person to make a target more malleable." He paused for a moment as he watched Harley drop the papers to the floor before she dropped to her knees. "Doctor Harleen Quinzell was already a fragile creature, hidden by a thin facade of smugness and professionalism that the Joker easily saw through. She was a toy he could play with, manipulate, break, shatter, and remake into a painted-up puppet with the mentality of an attack dog whipped into submission."

The words stung Harley, but she knew they couldn't be ignored because she knew them to be true. "Stop...it," she said as tears rolled down her cheeks. She wasn't sure if it was out of grief at what was done to her or from momentarily reliving all those painful times as she willingly let "Mistah J" punish her because she was so devoted to him.

But Pickens continued on like he didn't hear her. "And oh, what a nice little creation Joker made...he carved up poor Doctor Quinzell, broke her down, and reshaped her into a nicely painted little doll."

"Shut. Up."

"And thanks to the toxins he dosed you with along with some nicely engineered chips placed in your outfit, it was easy for him to shape her...sculpt her...into YOU."

"SHUT. UP."

"You, Harly Quinn, a nice painted little puppet now controlled by strings that were conditioned into you over a period of a few years until Harleen Quinzell was nothing but shards of what was once a human's psyche."

"I said," Harley suddenly jumped back on her feet and lunged at Pickens, grabbing him by the front of his shirt and slamming him against the wall of the room. "SHUT UP!"

And yet, despite the sudden violence and possible threat to his life, Pickens smiled at her, his voice still calm. "Which brings me back to my original question, Harley Quinn. How do YOU feel? Chances are, you're probably pissed off right now and, for a moment, you'll probably think it's me you're pissed at, but we both know it isn't." His gaze drifted over to the papers on the floor. "The truth is there and you know how you came to be who you are now. Right now, part of you wants to just say it's all lies, that you should kill me because that's what 'Mistah J'...your 'puddin'...would want you to do. But you now know the truth and you don't like the fact that you've been played all this time and jerked around like a goddamn puppet on a string."

For a moment, Harley contemplated killing the man...but it was only moment and then everything suddenly clicked into place. Pickens was right; while a small part of her wanted to just kill him, it was barely more than a whisper and it was rapidly fading as rage at what was done to her took its place. And that was when she had her epiphany:

She didn't have to be a goddamn puppet...not anymore.

Harley suddenly released her grip on the man, but she still punched him in the face before taking a step back. "That was for being an asshole about the whole situation," she said.

Pickens rubbed his jaw as he started to get back up on his feet. "So," he said again, "how do you feel?"

Harley thought about it for a moment. "Shitty," she finally replied. "I just found out that I've been played all this time and I think it's time to cut some fucking strings." Then she paused for a moment. "But you know what? I think I'll be getting better in the future."

Pickens smiled at her again. "And that, Harley Quinn, concludes this session, and it's probably our last one."

"Wait, what?"

"Well, my work here is done," Pickens said. "I don't see what else I'm supposed to do."

"Um, how about the part where you're supposed to rehabilitate me supposedly try to 'make me whole again'?"

Pickens chuckled at her and shook his head. "And like I said before, Harleen Quinzell is gone; broken, shattered to pieces, and reshaped into something else. You know that, I know that, and we both know it would be a waste of fucking time trying to resurrect the dead."

"Then what exactly was your purpose all this time?" Harley asked.

"Because you've been a puppet all this time, Harley." The mischievous look returned to Pickens' eyes. "And I'm the guy who just gave you the scissors to cut your strings." He then looked down at his watch. "And our time is up."

The door to the therapy room opened to reveal two Arkham orderlies waiting to escort Harley to back to her cell. She was about half-way through the door when she stopped to look at Pickens who was calmly putting his papers back on his clip-board. "Um, Doc, before I leave, can I ask you a question?"

"Of course, Ms. Quinn."

Harley's eyes narrowed again as she studied the man. There was something about him that seemed to be a little off, but she just couldn't be sure what it was. "Who are you...really? You're more than just some therapist, aren't you?"

Pickens gave her a knowing smile. "Just the man who gives out scissors, Ms. Quinn…nothing more, nothing less."

Harley smirked at him and accompanied the orderlies out of the room, leaving Pickens by himself. The man waited a couple seconds before looking around before glancing around to make sure he was truly alone. Once he was certain, he chuckled softly as he waved a hand, causing the door to suddenly close and lock itself while the cameras in the room suddenly went on stand-by mode.

"Well now," Mitch L. Pickens said as he loosened his tie and unbuttoned the top two buttons of his shirt. "This has been an interesting little game." He waved both hands and three small spheres materialized in front of him, each sphere showing the recent "newcomers" to this dimension. One sphere showed Zoe and Jack on the Watchtower, another showed David Pine Flynn locked down in a CADMUS lab, and the third sphere showed two amusing inmates currently residing in Arkham 's Iso-Wing.

He snapped his fingers and the first two spheres vanished while he focused on the two inmates known as Renard and Deyorke.

"Oh yeah," he said. "You two bad boys coming to this dimension are my kind of chaos. I've barely had to do anything since you two arrived and from what I've seen coming down the pipe...even Supes is never gonna' live this down. And I've got a front row seat for it all. But for now, I think I'll go home and get some popcorn for the show."

With another snap of his fingers, an old fashion bowler hat suddenly appeared in his right hand. He put the hat on and then looked at his reflection in the mirror. He still kept the human form though. In fact, he actually liked this look; it was a lot more cool looking than the "imp". He just hoped he didn't run into that time traveling mad man in a blue box he stole the look from.

"Hmmm, I wonder if I could find a tall leggy redhead to travel around with me," he mused. Then he shook his head. "Nah...then I really would be accused of copyright infringement." He clapped his hands together and then proceeded to crack his knuckles. "So now, where were we?"

He refocused his thoughts as he recalled the last few months...how those idiot humans at CADMUS somehow stumbled onto opening breaches to another Earth in an alternate dimension...and how they got this brilliant idea of looting that alternate Earth for technology to use against Superman and his little club.

"Idiots," he said, shaking his head in disgust. "They have no idea what they're doing."

Although, to be fair, he had to admit that he was amused by the world they had managed to connect to. It was a different world, and he had to admit he was entertained by the chaos that was happening in that world, especially when it involved a certain down called Metroville (which looked a lot like a west coast version of Metropolis but without the blue boy scout wearing his underwear outside his pajamas).

He was also aware of the very powerful being who briefly appeared at CADMUS headquarters and pretty much gave the humans a cryptic warning while giving them permission to proceed with their idiotic plans. A powerful being who...who was now standing a few feet behind him wearing an overcoat.

"Well, well," Pickens said as he turned around to face the visitor. "If it isn't Divis Mal...newly empowered god. So tell me, how's it hanging?"

Divis Mal stood there for a moment, a curious look on his face as he studied Pickens. "You, are not from this universe," he said. "In fact, you're not from this plane of existence, are you?"

Pickens smiled again. "Damn, you're good for a newbie," he said. "And you can relax, I'm not gonna' mess with your plans. In fact, I kind of approve what you're doing...especially since you're trying to limit the damage those idiot humans are doing."

"That actually isn't my intention."

"Maybe not, but at least you know the dangers of the multiverse and the consequences of meddling with them." Pickens smile grew even bigger. "After all, you made damn sure to close the artifact and lock it down when you realized what it allowed you to do and the damage you, or anyone else, could do."

Mal's eyes widened in surprise. "How...how do you know about that?"

Pickens shrugged his shoulders. "It's...kind of complicated. Honestly, I wasn't sure where that damn thing ended up, but I could feel its taint all over you. Believe me, I know what it could do...it's why I got rid of it, burying it deep in the past of another dimensional plane. I just can't believe that it was created by your kind. It proved very troublesome to get rid of."

"You know what it is?" Mal asked.

"Don't you?" Pickens responded in return. Then he paused as a thought occurred to him. "Of course, if it ended up on your world, that would explain how CADMUS was able to connect to your Earth...it acted like a damn beacon." He shook his head and chuckled. "Oh, you clever little bitch."

"Excuse me?"

"No, not you Mal. And believe me, if I swung that way, I would NEVER call you that. Now I've got to run a couple errands, but we will need to talk later when this is all settled." Pickens paused again, his brow furrowing slightly in concern. "If it gets settled….well...it gets settled one way or another….I guess."

Mal stepped forward, his eyes flashing red for a moment. "You know something, don't you?"

"Actually, I do," Pickens said, holding his hands up defensively. "Have you heard of a Mitchell James Carter?"

The name made Mal stop in his tracks, a curious look on his face. "The traveler," he said. Then it dawned on him. "This was his world, wasn't it? The one he couldn't save?"

"Oh, so you do know part of the story after all."

"What story?" Mal asked, his eyes glowing again in irritation.

"Sorry, Mal," Pickens replied. And he really did feel sorry for Mal. "Spoilers." Then he gestured at the glowing sphere that showed the two Arkham inmates in the Iso-Wing. "Oh, by the way...you know those two, right?"

Mal glanced at the sphere and nodded. "Yes, but those two buffoons do not concern me."

"Okay...maybe you don't know this, but that buffoon known as Bomber...the one with the black hair. He's banging you're granddaughter." Pickens then laughed as he snapped his fingers. "And this is me leaving…Kltpzyxm!"

And in a flash of white light, the being known as Mr. Mxyzptlk vanished along with the glowing sphere, leaving a confused Divis Mal standing alone in the room.

For a moment, Mal tried to determine who...or what...he had just encountered. Obviously, this being was some sort of other-dimensional creature and knew about the artifact. This being knew about Mitchell Carter, a man he had not talked to in decades since he first arrived back in 1938...a haunted and broken man with an incredible story to tell.

 _And everything Mitchell created on our world,_ Mal thought to himself, _those fictional characters….they weren't fictional...they were beings from this world._

Then the realization hit him like a ton of bricks.

 _Son of a bitch...he knew! Things he had said to me back then...he knew my name, he knew who I was, but I didn't know him. He couldn't have known who I was unless I met him...unless I met him someplace else...some other time….in some other place._

Mal had to admit to himself that this revelation was rather mind-blowing.

 _And yet it still leaves unanswered questions. I must return to my Earth and see if I can get answers from Mitchell._

He closed his eyes for a moment as he mentally focused on his destination and prepared to shift back to his Earth. Just as he could sense reality warping around him, however, another thought hit him like a ton of bricks as he materialized over Metroville Bay.

 _Wait...Bomber is doing **what** to my granddaughter?_


	20. Chaos Unleashed: Arkham I

Disclaimer: Aberrant, owned by White Wolf. Justice League Unlimted and other DC properties, owned by WB and DC comics.

Author's Note: Okay, Part One of the "Chaos Unleashed" arc begins here. Just to warn you, this kind of shifts to several different points of view, hence the line breaks. Also, I want to apologize to those who might not like how I portray the Joker. But I'm going with what I've witnessed in the JLU, Batman TAS, and Assault an Arkham versions where it is implied that Joker tended to abuse Harley a lot. I also have Jimmy Olsen showing more of a backbone, but I promise I will explain this more in the following chapters. The way I see it, he's been through a couple alien invasions and gone through so much other shit over the years he's worked at the Planet and dealt with Superman...it makes sense that he might be built of sterner stuff as he got older.

* * *

 _ **Arkham Asylum**_

 _ **Gotham City, New Jersey**_

Joker was bored.

Yep, that pretty much summed it up. After counting the grooves in the ceiling titles of his cell for what had to be the fortieth time since he was brought back to Arkham a few months ago for...well, he had lost how many times he had been put in in Arkham over the last several years or so. It really still didn't matter. He just couldn't figure out why he was still in here.

Usually, when he hit the four month mark, Harley would enact some elaborate and very creative plan (though he would never actually tell her that) to free him. However, the four month mark passed and he couldn't figure out why Harley hadn't tried to help him escape.

I wonder what happened to her. This is not like her. What could have gone wrong.

Then he remembered as he leaned back on the bed in his cell and laughed softly to himself.

 _Oh yeah, the bitch had the audacity to yell at me not to leave her when I was making my escape. She got a little clingy and I had to teach her a lesson and beat her to a fucking pulp so she could remember her place. Ah...such a nice memory...her nice creamy and smooth skin darkening with each bruise I inflicted on her. Oh well...I'll give her a couple more weeks to heal up. If she doesn't try to come for me then, I'll break out on my own, track her down, and beat some more sense into her._

He caught movement out of the corner of his eye and propped himself up to get a better look of what was going on outside his cell. He saw a guard open up Jervis Tetch's cell and supervise a couple inmate workers start taking things out of it. Curious, he got up off his bed and tapped on the bars of his cell.

"Excuse me, gentlemen, but could you enlighten me as to what is going on?" he asked.

Two of the men ignored him, but one of them, an older inmate that Joker knew as Lou, merely shrugged as he answered. "Not much to say, Joker. Your girlfriend ran into Tetch when he was making his weekly trip to the library and...shoved a chair leg through his bladder."

Even Joker had to wince at that. "Ow...I take it that means Harley's being detained in the ISO-Wing."

"You know I can't tell you that," Lou told him. "But you're a smart man, you figure it out."

Joker gave the man an honest smile. "Thanks for update, Lou."

"No problem, Mr. J."

Joker watched the three men leave, a thoughtful look on his face as he pondered what he had learned.

 _So Harley was pissed off at Tetch...I wonder what set her off. Bah, no matter...she should have restrained herself over whatever imagined offense she thought Tetch had committed. Unless…_

For a moment, he wondered if Harley had learned what Tetch had done a few years back when he was trying to "mold" Harley into the masterpiece that she was now. Then he immediately dismissed that thought as quickly as it surfaced.

 _There's no way she could have known. The chip, along with the chemical treatments Crane and I used on her pretty much broke her at the beginning. And the chip was long gone when she ditched the original costume for something more appropriate. But still...that girl needs to learn some respect._

Unfortunately, for the Joker, Harley did know the truth. And, as he would find out in the next twenty four hours, karma would indeed come calling on his pasty white ass in the most brutal way.

* * *

"As you can see, Mr. Olsen, everything here is state of the art. The security system is practically on par with the Pentagon or any other high security government agency."

Jimmy resisted the urge to roll his eyes in irritation at the somewhat contemptuous tone of Arkham Director Nathan Tate's voice as the man proceeded to show him around the facility. It was bad enough that they had spent the first forty-five minutes just walking through the first security check where they had him turn over his keys, his watch, and anything else that could "possibly be used as a weapon". While he was concerned about not having the watch (which also worked as an emergency alert to contact Superman), Jimmy was confident that someone from the League would show up if something did happen.

 _Besides,_ he thought to himself, _you need stop acting like it's a crutch. There's going to be a time when you won't be able to call the Big Guy or he won't be able to make it._

He also got tired of being labeled as "Jimmy Olsen, cub reporter" or "Jimmy Olsen, Superman's pal". Okay, that may have been cool back when he was in Junior High and High School working at the Daily Planet as a photographer and blogger, but he was now twenty, dammit. It was time to be his own person. Yeah, he might have hated going to Gotham, but this was his first actual solo reporting job, which meant that Perry probably thought it was time for him to do bigger and better-

"Mr. Olsen," Tate's slight nasally tone broke into Jimmy's thoughts. "Are you actually paying attention?"

"Yes sir," Jimmy replied. "Just thinking about some of the past incidents from the last few years involving this so called 'state of the art' facility. So forgive me for being a little skeptical."

"Yes, well, things are different this time around, Mr. Olsen," Tate said, glaring at the younger man through his tinted glasses. "I wasn't here then and I assure you that, in the last year and a half since I took over, I have made many improvements and corrected the flaws in this facility."

Jimmy decided it was time to wipe the arrogant smirk off Tate's face. He had done some research on Arkham's "renovation" and on Tate the night before. "Oh yeah," he said, giving the older man a smirk of his own. "I read all about that...you being a former security systems consultant for Amertech, before suddenly being 'released' from your contract with them. Something about...what was it...suspicion of selling company secrets to their competitors."

"That was a lie," Tate snapped. "I was exonerated."

"Oh yeah, you definitely were." Jimmy gave the man a cheeky grin. "Right after LexCorp bought them out a few months later, you were given reparations and hired by LexCorp. That was definitely one hell of a coincidence."

"And you really shouldn't be relying on hack reporting done by your actual reporters at the Planet, Mr. Olsen," Tate sneered. "I'm surprised Perry White even gave this assignment to a punk amateur like yourself. Let me guess, Lane and Kent had better things to do?"

Jimmy's grin got bigger. "Everyone's gotta' start somewhere, Mr. Tate. Compared to the weird portals opening over Gotham and Metropolis, you're considered a second string story, which is why you're stuck with me." His smile faded and his expression became serious. "And that means I'm stuck with you. So let's just get the tour started where you show me this newly redesigned and updated nuthouse that you will swear is 'stare of the art' and 'inescapable' only to be proven wrong when the Joker or someone else breaks out of here a few months from now."

Tate stiffened momentarily from Jimmy's verbal assault and was about to say something, but suddenly changed his mind. "Very well," he said as he gestured to a couple guards to follow them, "allow me to show you the various cell blocks, including our new ISO-WING."

* * *

Nick and Jean looked out from their cells when they heard the door to their cell-block open.

"Damn, girl, Tetch was an asshole, but what the hell did he do?"

Two guards appeared escorting a young woman with long blond hair and a slender, wiry build. Like Nick and Jean, she was wearing the standard issue orange coveralls given to Arkham inmates.

"How about putting one of those damn mind-control chips in my costume's headpiece to make me more agreeable to Mistah J?"

One of the guards winced while the other guard opened a vacant cell. "Okay, that explains it...but they're saying you might have punctured his bladder with that chair leg," he said as he motioned for her to enter the cell.

"Good, it's what he deserves." Harley said as they closed the cell door on her. "Could you two do me a favor and tell Crane that he's next?"

"Um, I don't think he's gonna' care, Quinn," the second guard said.

"Why?"

"Scarecrow's mostly catatonic...except when he snaps out of it briefly only to scream in horror before he huddles back into a ball and goes catatonic again."

Harley had to stop and do a double-take at that comment. "Whoa, hold up, what the hell happened to him?"

Instead of answering her, the guards pointed at Jean and Nick before walking away and exiting the cell-block.

For several seconds, no one said anything while Harley looked around the area before focusing her attention on the two men in the ISO-WING with her. "So," she finally said as she sat down on the bed in her cell, "this is the new ISO-WING, huh?"

"Yep," Nick replied while Jean merely nodded. "Been here for a couple days now...it's not too bad. Room service is pretty decent and the food doesn't suck too much. Although, I gotta' admit that we didn't expect ISO-WING to be a Co-ed facility."

"Careful, cowboy," Harley warned him. "You know who I am, and what I can do. So don't get any bright ideas."

"Um, okay," Jean said as he got up off his bed and walked over to the edge of his cell. "Don't take this the wrong way, but who are you?"

Harley paused for a moment, shocked by the question. "You're kidding, right?" she asked, giving the two men a curious look.

Both Jean and Nick shook their heads.

"I'm Harley Quinn." The blank and indifferent looks on their faces caught Harley off guard. Her years as a psychiatrist made her able to get a good read of people and she could tell these men had not heard of her. "Seriously, you don't know who I am at all? The Joker's girl friend?" Then she paused and added, "I take that back...make that ex-girlfriend."

Jean looked over at Nick. "Joker had a girl friend?" he asked.

Nick shrugged. "Beats me, buddy. I would have thought his tastes ran more towards guys in leather, kevlar, and capes." He then glanced appreciatively at Harley. "On the other hand, he had good taste. By the way, we haven't been introduced. I'm Nick and he's Jean."

"Hey," Jean snapped, regaining Nick's attention. "Flirt later...remember...we have plans."

"Plans?" Harley asked. "What kind of plans?"

Nick shrugged and leaned against the bars of his cell. "Oh, you know...the kind where we throw a big party, things get trashed, and then we flee the scene before the authorities arrive. Although, in this case, we're waiting for the guys coming to kill us to kick this party off."

"Dammit, Nick," Jean sighed as he pointed at Harley. "Did it ever occur to you that she might be part of it?"

Nick looked back at Harley and stage whispered, "I'm really sorry about Jean...he's paranoid and just plain crazy."

"Dammit, Nick! I'm being serious!"

"See what I mean?"

Harley couldn't help giggling at that response, causing Jean to just shake his head in annoyance.

"Jean, will you relax, I doubt she's with them...whoever 'them' is."

"Maybe, but she could be a risk regardless."

"And since when do YOU, of all people, care about risk?"

"Oh, I don't know, how about the fact that we're stuck in a place that, until a few days ago, was a WORK OF FICTION?"

"This again? Jean...we're here, this world is real, get over it!"

"Um...guys?" Both men paused to look at Harley. "Are you the two guys that Batman hauled in, claiming to be from another world and screaming that this wasn't real?"

"Um, yes, that would be us," Nick replied. Then he pointed at Jean. "But he's the one who was screaming about this world not being real. And honestly, there are other fictional worlds much worse than this one...this one just happens to be real."

"So I guess the stories being spread among the staff and the other inmates were true," Harley said.

"And I suppose this probably sounds crazy to you," Jean said.

Harley shot an incredulous look at him. "Honey, I hung with the Joker...you don't know crazy."

"She's got a point, Jean."

"Shut up, Nick."

Harley clapped her hands together and then cracked her knuckles. "So...when you say 'planning a party', I take it that means you plan on breaking out?"

"Maybe."

"No comment."

Harley smiled again. For some reason, she was getting a positive vibe off these two, the kind of vibe one would get when they know some really crazy shit was about to happen and she was going to be right at ground zero for it.

"Okay, boys, maybe we can work out a deal."

* * *

Grant gave a slight nod to Phillips and Morris before they were led off by a couple Arkham guards who were to place them with the "general population" within Arkham. Their covers as violent offenders would put them in the right in the middle of the chaos and allow them put things into motion when the rioting started.

 _And when it's all over...the two targets will be dead, as will several others and this will just be chalked up to the usual shit that happens at Arkham at least once every couple years._

A gun butt to middle of his back almost made him fall forward.

"Keep moving, convict!"

Grant briefly glanced over at a smirking Rodriguez who was having entirely too much fun playing is role.

 _Fuck you, Will. There will be payback coming...just you wait…._

"Eyes front, moron," Thomas added.

 _Fuck the both of you...oh yes, payback is a comin' you two...just wait until this is over…_

"You're enjoying this, aren't you?" he asked as they led him around a corner and down the corridor that led them to the ISO-WING.

"Oh hell yeah," Rodiriguez replied, giving his friend/commanding officer a wink. "That's what they pay us the big bucks for."

Grant inwardly sighed and shook his head.

 _Oh yeah...payback's definitely comin'…_

However, once they turned another corner and there were no others in sight, he was all business and gave Rodriguez a nod as he reached up and pretended to scratch the inside of his ear and activating the two-way communicator in his ear canal. "Okay, everyone, give me a sitrep."

"Valesco reporting, in the parking garage and I have the jammers ready. Once the fireworks start, all law-enforcement lines will be down for fifteen minutes."

"Phillips here, Morris and I are in position and waiting for the party to begin."

"Davis here, current command center staff have been neutralized and ready to light the fuse."

Grant turned and shared a smile with Rodiguez and Thomas. "Light the fuse, Davis."

"Five minutes, starting now, everyone," Davis said before cutting his connection.

Grant gestured his head down the corridor at his two companions. "Well, gentlemen, shall we?"

"Lead on, convict," Thomas chuckled.

* * *

It took almost all of his effort to not laugh at the situation, but Jimmy still allowed himself a smug grin as he watched Tate literally have a melt-down while talking on his cell-phone. Granted, he did find it disconcerting that the man in charge of a facility that housed some of the most dangerous psychopaths in the world was losing it, but it was fun to watch the egotistical and snobby douche-bag freak out.

"I don't care if he dies on the way to the hospital or not," Tate snapped. "It's just the Mad Hatter. As for Quinn, keep her in ISO-WING and I'll check up on her." He then killed the connection and put his phone in his coat pocket.

"Something wrong?" Jimmy asked.

"Stuff it, Olsen, or I'll cancel the tour and kick you out of here," Tate replied.

"Oh yeah, that's gonna' go over well," Jimmy said. "I can just imagine how the conversation with my employer is going to go: 'Olsen!'...'Yeah, Perry?'...'What do have for me?'...'Nothing, Perry, because the egotistical douche-bag and former Lex Corp special project director now running Arkham got his panties in a knot and threw me out because he couldn't handle the stress of running a professional nut-house.'…'Hmmm, okay, we can run the story from that angle'. Oh yeah, Tate, you want to toss me out of here, you go right ahead."

Both men stood there in the hallway, glaring at each other for a moment. After a couple seconds, Tate broke the glare. "Fine," he said dismissively. "Let's resume the tour and I'll show you the new ISO-WING. Maybe I'll even let you try out one of the cells."

Jimmy rolled his eyes at the man's pathetic attempt at intimidation. "Lead on, Director."

* * *

While Edward Nygma never considered himself a firm believer of psychic premonition, he had seen enough crazy things in his lifetime to not dismiss the concept right away. A hunch, a gut feeling, or just the slight chill of the spine, it really didn't matter because any, if not all, of those things meant that some really ugly shit was coming down and he didn't want to be splattered with it when it actually hit.

The two new arrivals at Arkham set off his "Oh Shit!" sense faster than Batman's shadow suddenly falling over him when he was in the middle of an operation. When he first encountered Renard and DeYorke, they had literally turned the prison cafeteria into a warzone right after a couple guards tried to feed the "newbies" to the general population. He heard rumors about these two through the asylum gossip...they claimed to be from an alternate Earth.

Yes, it sounded crazy but Nygma had already experienced enough crazy shit to not ignore it. When he first spoke to DeYorke in the middle of the cafeteria brawl, the young man didn't seem all that crazy. When he spoke to both of them later on in the ISO-WING, he could tell they weren't crazy. Yes, they were professional killers, but something about them felt off...as if they didn't quite belong here.

His second "hunch" that something was off was their overall attitude. They didn't seem to show the fear or anger when talking about the Dark Knight. Even the most hardened of inmates gave Batman a sort of fearful respect when talking about him, but Renard and DeYorke acted like it was taking all their effort not to laugh in amusement whenever the subject of the Dark Knight was brought up. It was almost as if they thought of Batman as a joke...and not a really good one.

The third thing that happened that definitely confirmed that something was wrong was Harley Quninn; the Joker's on-again/off-again blindly devoted partner went off the rails and attacked Jervis Tetch in the Arkham library. The attack was brutal and Nygma (along with almost the entire male population of Arkham) shuddered at what Harley did to Tetch with one of the chairs.

 _Getting a chair leg planted in your crotch and having it mangle your genitals and puncture your bladder...damn...what the hell did Tetch do to Harley to have that done to him?_

And now, Harley Quinn was detained in ISO-WING with the two "newbies" that were allegedly from a "parallel" world. From what he had seen of Renard and DeYorke, placing Harley anywhere near them was almost as bad as putting a lit candle a couple feet away from a puddle of gasoline and an open propane bottle.

As he pushed the cart containing lunch for DeYorke, Renard, and Harley towards the ISO-WING. Nygma saw Arkham Director Nathan Tate and a young man wearing a visitor's badge that Nygma recognized as Daily Planet photographer/reporter/blogger Jimmy Olsen entering the ISO-WING door.

 _Okay, the appearance of "Superman's pal" is definitely not a good sign. If I were a strong believer in Chaos Theory, I'd say we have a recipe for disaster._

Then he caught sight of the two security guards coming down from the other end of the hall and approaching the ISO-WING entrance. A quick glance at their movements and the all too confident stride of the alleged prisoner they were escorting made it clear to Nygma that something was about to go down. Having been in Arkham more than a few times and being very observant, Nygma had gotten really good at recognizing the kind of people who worked at Arkham. Most of the guards assigned to Arkham were "bottom of the barrel" law enforcement personnel who were either corrupt and easy to buy off or were desperate and willing to do anything to keep their job and pension benefits.

 _These two guards are moving too smoothly...too professional. And the inmate they're 'escorting'...he's too relaxed and confident. These guys practically scream Military, possibly spec-ops. And the 'inmate' is definitely their leader._

Nygma wisely pulled the cart back and pretended to be inspecting its contents, not wanting to draw any unwanted attention while he pondered his next move.

 _These must be the people that Renard and DeYorke were waiting for. So, what's it going to be Eddy? You going to stay out of this or actually keep your initial promise?_

For a brief moment, he thought about just turning around and walking away. His own self-preservation instincts were screaming at him to walk...no...RUN away as fast as he could from the situation. And yet, he wondered what would happen if the two did escape and he ran out on them. Something told him that he would not be long for this world if DeYorke and Renard targeted him.

As he watched the two 'guards' and their 'prisoner' start to enter the ISO-Wing, he was still asking himself the same question.

 _So what's it gonna' be, Edward? What are you going to do?_

And, in that moment, he finally got an answer.

* * *

After spending the last few minutes getting a quick rundown (in the form of several run-on sentences and the two men overlapping each other and occasionally throwing out snarky comments in a very amusing double-act that she wasn't was real or staged) of what was happening, Harley decided to sum it up for them.

"Okay, let me get this straight...you two are a pair of super-powered mercenaries on your world. You were having breakfast when some military looking guys came out of a glowing portal. You fought them, somehow got transported to Gotham Harbor, killed a bunch of mob guys, got caught by Batman, were dumped here, and ended up starting a brawl in the cafeteria that got a few of the more violent inmates here killed." She paused for a moment as she re-ran that through her head. "Did I miss anything?"

"Um, yeah," Nick said. "You forgot about the part where Jean slit Maxie Zeus' throat with a shiv and then shoved a guard's entire shock-stick up the man's ass."

"Dude, I'm telling you, I don't remember doing that!" Jean huffed as he sat back down on his bed. "I had just been stabbed and it was kind of red blur when I woke up."

"Yeah," Nick snorted. "that's usually how things go. Some people try to kill you and you end up 'self-defensing' them to death." Then he sighed, frowning slightly as he continued. "And that poor Jonathan Crane guy...he saw it all happen right in front of him. I think you traumatized him, man."

"I don't remember that either, okay?"

"Dude, he threw a plastic ketchup bottle at you and you were about to hack his head off with a dinner tray when the guards all piled on you."

"Again...I have no recollection of that part."

Harley giggled again at the antics of the two men. It was obvious that they tended to play off each other, but what made it more amusing to her that this "double act" between them actually looked like it was real and not scripted.

"So," she said, deciding to break into their conversation. "If you don't mind me asking, how long have you two known each other? Because from the way you two talk and act. I'm thinking you go waaaay back."

Before Nick or Jean could reply, the cell-block door opened to reveal Arkham Director Tate and a young man that Harley recognized almost immediately.

"Jimmy Olsen," she squealed, sounding like a crazed fan-girl as she glanced over at Jean and Nick. "Hey guys, it's Superman's pal, little Jimmy Olsen!"

Jimmy Olsen rolled his eyes in annoyance while Tate merely grinned smugly at the scene. "Great...of all the people you had to put in here, it had to be HER," he grumbled.

"Relax, kiddo," Harley said. "I'm much better than I used to be. So, if you're here, does that mean the big blue boy scout is lurking around?"

Jimmy shook his head and then glanced at the other two men locked in the other cells. "You two got anything to add?"

"Hey man, we're still trying to adjust to the fact that we're here in your world," Nick replied. "Though I gotta' admit, you don't look like a whiny punk kid."

"I have to agree," Jean added. "You're not gutless...just a little clueless because you don't know the rules of the game you just got dragged into. And Nick's right...definitely not a whiny punk."

"Gee, thanks," Jimmy fired back at them. "And what did your buddy mean by being here on our world. No, wait, let me guess...you two are aliens, right?"

Nick glanced at Jean before returning his attention to Jimmy. "Aliens," he snorted, "right...no, Jimmy Olsen. Jean and I are not aliens, we're human...sort of….and we're just displaced."

"That's enough from you," Tate hissed. "You two have caused enough trouble for me-"

"We have?" Jean asked before looking back at Nick. "Nick, aside from the incident in the cafeteria, have we actually done anything that rates as 'trouble' in our book?"

"Why no, Jean, I do not believe so. First, the body count was kind of low, and second, we haven't killed any heads of state or toppled any government regimes, and finally, this idiot who thinks he's in charge of our containment really has no clue."

"I said that's enough!" Tate snarled as he stepped towards Jean's cell. "You two are nothing but a couple violent offenders and we will deal with you accordingly!"

Jimmy watched in mild amusement as the man identified as Jean merely smirked and gave Tate the finger before leaning back on his bed. However, his amusement was tempered by how the two men acted. Yes, they were inmates at Arkham, and yes, they were locked up in a high security wing; but something just seemed a little off with these two. He happened to glance over at Harley Quinn who also appeared to be watching the two men interact with Tate. She noticed him looking at her and winked at him before returning her attention back to the conversation.

"Ouch, Jean, I think I'm insulted," Nick huffed in an exaggerated tone. "We're only 'a couple of violent offenders' to this idiot."

"Let it go Nick, it's not his fault he doesn't know." Jean smiled as the irate Arkham Director's face started to turn a brilliant shade of purple. "Then again, he does have a high stressed job of being a useless paper pushing bureaucrat overseeing a bunch of mentally insane people...and us."

"Congratulations, you two," Tate sneered, pulling his cellphone out of coat pocket. "I think I'll set up an intensive interactive therapy session for you."

Nick and Jean glanced at each other before looking back to Harley. "He means some crazy version of 'shock therapy', doesn't he?" Nick asked.

Harley shrugged her shoulders. "Probably."

"Careful, Quinn," Tate warned, "or you might be joining them." He was about to say something else, but stopped when the door to the ISO-Wing opened to reveal two guards escorting another inmate. "What's this?" he asked, more irritation seeping into his voice.

"A transfer from Blackgate," one of the guards said as he pulled out some paperwork and handed it to Tate while the other one kept his gun trained on the prisoner.

"I did not authorize this," Tate said as he studied the papers.

"No, the federal government did," the guard holding their prisoner at gunpoint said. "And you know how Uncle Sam likes to step in and flex their muscle when they have a psychotic witness."

"Why wasn't I notified?"

While Tate argued with the new arrivals, he noticed Quinn and the two men shift slightly. Harley appeared to be ready to duck for cover while the prisoners known as Nick and Jean gave each other a knowing look before nodding to bracing themselves for something.

Nick then looked at Jimmy and smiled. "Jimmy, you might want to take a few steps in that direction," he said said, gesturing towards Harley's cell.

"Why?"

"Because," Jean said as he stood up in his cell, "Director Tate is about to die."

"What!?" Tate suddenly turned to look in Jean's direction. "I warned you two. This shit ends-"

The prisoner being escorted by the two guards suddenly lunged forward as his restraints fell off his wrists and he grabbed Tate from behind. He never had time to finish his sentence has his head was turned at an extreme angle before his neck snapped. A second later, his lifeless body dropped to the floor as each of the guards pointed their weapons at Jean and Nick respectively while the "prisoner" knelt down to take Nate's security badge.

"About time you guys got here," Nick said. "The suspense was starting to get to us."

This caused the three intruders to pause for a moment, their leader, the supposed "prisoner" they were escorting, gave Nick a curious look. "You don't seem too surprised by this."

"Truth be told, we were expecting your yesterday," Jean admitted as he leaned against the bars. "So...how is this going to play out? You shoot me and Nick, and then set up a diversion to make your escape? Like maybe a riot or something?"

* * *

Grant Wilson grinned at Jean as Rodriguez handed him a pistol. "Something like that."

"Which means you probably have a few guys outside...probably someone in the command center to cause some mayhem, maybe a couple guys as back up in the 'general population' to help you out with your pre-planned escape route to where you probably have someone manning a getaway vehicle." Nick shook his head and laughed. "Oh my god, Jean, can you believe how predictable these idiots are?"

"Sounds to me like your standard 'Jerry Bruckheimer/Michael Bay' cinematic cliché, doesn't it, Nick?"

"Pretty much, Jean." Nick then returned his attention to Grant. "So, you kill us...I suppose you'll probably have to kill Quinn and Olsen too, won't you?"

"Well, we can't leave any witnesses," Grant admitted. "But we'll make sure it looks like you two killed them. Oh, and Olsen, don't think of bothering to cry out for help, you'll be dead before you even get a chance to scream 'Superman, save me!'."

Jimmy rolled his eyes in irritation. "I don't think it would help, asshole," he snapped. "Since Lex Corp helped renovate this building, I bet he's got some sort of sound dampening material built into the walls. I just know that you'll have signed your death warrant when Superman eventually learns that you killed me."

Grant smiled at the younger man. "Damn kid, you got guts, I'll give you that. For that, I'll make it quick."

He was about to pull the trigger when the door to the cell-block opened and someone shouted, "Okay, who ordered the Happy Meal?"


	21. Chaos Unleashed: Arkham II

**Disclaimer:** Aberrant, owned by Onyx Publishing. JLU, owned by DC.

 **Author's Notes:** Yep, still continuing this crazy thing. Also working on a new chapter for the primary story (Defiance and Insurrection). Sorry for not posting lately. Lots of chaotic things...work, computer issues, sidetracked by some online gaming, and dealing with the political bullshit. Also, it is now official..I am officially done with TTH. I'm no longer posting any stories there and any stories I posted over there (with maybe one exception) are officially DEAD and will not be imported over here. Also, if Jimmy Olsen comes off looking less like a victim, keep in mind this is a young man who, during his tenure with The Daily Planet, has been through a couple alien invasions and seen his share of crazy shit. That being said, I'm going to say he must possess some sort of level head to not just go into full "OH MY GOD! SUPERMAN SAVE ME!" panic mode. Sorry, that shit went the way of the 70s and early 80s cartoons.

* * *

 ** _ISO-WING_**

 ** _Arkham Asylum_**

 ** _Gotham City, New Jersey ( aka "The City that smells like Fish and Urine")_**

Jimmy Olsen, at the age of twenty-two, had seen and been through a lot in the last decade since he started out as a "cub reporter" as part of a school project with the Daily planet. He had seen the rise of heroes, lived through a couple alien invasions, survived a few riots, and even went through a civil war or two in a couple countries. Through most of those times, he had a handy little lifeline in the form of a watch that Superman had given him that gave out a specific super-sonic ping only the Man of Steel could hear.

However, there were times when he didn't have the watch with him (or it had been taken from him while he had been knocked unconscious) and he had to rely on his wits and, occasionally, dumb luck to get out of some scrapes. However, deep in the back of his mind, he knew...and feared...there would be a moment when his luck ran out and that moment had come in the form of a false Arkham inmate holding a pistol, standing less than fifteen away from him and there was nowhere to run. He was expecting his life to flash before his eyes, a sense of overwhelming panic, or something that he had imagined in his deepest nightmares that involved him dying in some gruesome way.

Yes, time did indeed seem to stand still and, yes, he knew that this was the moment he was going to die. But despite all this, there was no instant replay of his arguably short life and the panic really didn't seem all that overwhelming. In fact, the only thing going through his mind at that moment was:

 _Wow...things really do go in slow motion right when you're about to die._

"Okay, who ordered the happy meal?" Jimmy heard someone shout, shattering what he had believed to be the final moments of his life. The two guards and their "prisoner" turned in the direction of the newcomer and opened fire, causing the man to dive for cover as they opened fire on the cart he was pushing.

And that was when the shit hit the fan.

Jimmy watched as the Arkham inmate called Nick suddenly reached out from his cell to grab one of the guards by the arm; then there was a flash of yellow light as Nick suddenly reappeared on the other side of the guard...along with the guard's arm in hand. The now one-armed guard screamed in agony as blood started to gush from the remains of his shoulder only while he dropped to the ground. His screams were reduced to whimpers as he was clubbed unconscious with his own amputated arm.

The remaining guard and the "prisoner" turned to focus on the suddenly free Nick and opened fire on him. The bullets impacted Nick and sent him stumbling back a few feet. When the shooting stopped, everyone stood there in shock as Nick, who was still standing, looked down at his gunshot wounds which were starting to heal up and shook his head.

"Oh man, you guys really have no fucking clue," Nick said, an evil grin on his face.

Then a cell door slammed into the remaining guard as Jean kicked it off his cell. There was a sickening "splutch" sound as the door smashed the man into the wall.

* * *

Grant Wilson was never one to panic when things got out of control. Yes, there were times when a mission went sour, but he always prided himself on being able to compartmentalize the situation and keep a level head. That is what made him good at his job and what kept him alive even in the worst situations.

But seeing two of the best in his unit taken down by a couple of snotty metahumans...that really annoyed him. What annoyed him more is the realization that Amanda Waller had given him faulty intel on the two targets. They were identified as "low level" metahumans. Waller had informed them that the metas in question did exhibit toughness, which meant armor piercing rounds were the order of the day.

Waller also failed to inform him that one of the targets could apparently teleport; a fact that was graphically introduced in the form of the aforementioned target grabbing Thomas by the left arm, teleporting out of his cell (along with Thomas' left arm), and reappearing on the other side of Thomas to club the now screaming man with the amputated arm. Grant and Rodriguez reacted accordingly by opening up on the target and emptying their weapons into the inmate identified as Nicholas DeYorke.

Only to see DeYorke still standing there still holding Thomas' severed arm and smiling at them as his wounds started to rapidly heal. Grant and Rodriquez were about to reload when the door to Renard's cell flew off it's hinges and slammed into Rodiguez, smashing the man's upper body into the wall.

Yes, Grant realized that he was probably starting to panic even as he slapped a new magazine into his pistol, but the only thing going through his mind was: _Well, shit, this is starting to suck._

"Oh yeah," DeYorke said, still standing there and grinning like an idiot. "Another magazine should do the trick."

Instead of answering, Grant spun and fired three rounds at Renard who was stepping out of his cell, nailing the man in the face and dropping him to the ground before emptying the rest of the magazine at DeYorke while moving towards Rodriguez' body. He then quickly reached down and pulled the item out of side pocket of the dead man's uniform. A push on the button of the hilt of the weapon activated the nanosteel blade, turning it into a katana.

He spun again bringing the blade in a slashing arc as he attacked DeYorke who countered by deflecting the blow with Thomas' arm.

"Damn, I really liked that arm," DeYorke said as the appendage was cut in half and he ducked Grant's follow-up kick. "But I'm really digging the sword though."

"Glad you feel that way," Grant said as he ducked DeYorke's spinning kick and lunged forward, impaling the man in the chest and lifting him off the ground. From the sound of DeYorke's wheezing, he could tell that his punctured a lung. "I know you could probably heal from that, but I doubt you can grow your head back when I cut it off." He lowered his sword and kicked DeYorke's body off the blade. Then he raised his blade again to deliver a final blow that would sever the man's head at the neck.

Or at least he would have if he hadn't been grabbed violently from behind and suddenly lifted high in the air. He tried to twist around, but barely had time to move before he was suddenly brought back down followed by an explosion of pain in his spine that accompanied the sickening snap of it being broken. And then oblivion claimed him as he was thrown across the corridor before colliding face first with a wall.

* * *

Davis sat in a chair in the command center, watching the events unfold in the ISO-WING and winced as he saw Grant get his back broken by Jean-Paul Renard.

"Ouch," he said as he reached up and keyed on his headset. "Bad news, guys. It's gone FUBAR. Number One and his crew are down. Activating the contingency plan."

"Valesco here, how bad?"

"Rodriguez and Thomas are dead, and Grant's back was broken."

"Well...fuck." That comment came from Phillips. "What's the plan?"

"Scorched Earth," Davis replied as he tapped a couple keys on a terminal. He smiled as the lockdown protocols flashed on the screen and he moved the mouse to highlight the override button on the screen. "Phillips, you and Morris better get ready to run, because things are gonna' get crazy. Valesco, fire up the chariot...we're pulling out."

He then clicked the mouse, activating the override and grinned as the lights dimmed and the alarms went off.

 _Oh yeah,_ he thought, _this is gonna' be interesting._

* * *

Back in his cell in the Maximum Security wing, Joker was reading the latest magazine Lou had smuggled him. While it wasn't his style, Joker did appreciate the fact that the aging cannibal managed get him the special "guns and knives year end review" issue of Field and Stream. The old timer certainly knew what to bring a guy to get them out of the boring funk he had fallen into. With Tetch gone to a real hospital for emergency surgery and Crane in the medical wing in a sedative induced coma, the Max-Sec block was pretty damn quiet.

 _Damn...I am bored. Hell, even the guards are bored. None of them will come in to shock me when I throw one of my usual tantrums to alleviate the boredom._

He sighed as he turned the page, looking at the stats of a new hunting knife put out by STAGG Industries and reading how well it performed when skinning a deer.

 _Hmmm...when I get out of here, I think I know what I'm gonna' buy Lou for Christmas. He's not bad for a cannibal who tends to eat on the run. Dammit...still bored...that's it! If something doesn't happen soon, I'm gonna' make my own escape plan! After dinner._

Then the lights suddenly dimmed and the alarms went off followed by the emergency lighting kicking on. He could hear some of the guards yelling, one of them trying to call the command center.

 _Okay...this is interesting._

He tossed the magazine aside and got up off his bed. That was when he heard it...the familiar hiss of air and a click of a locking mechanism. And then his cell-door slid open, along with all the other cell-doors through the facility.

 _Damn...I guess dinner's off then,_ he thought, chuckling to himself as he casually strolled out of his cell, looking for a guard to kill and a weapon or two to acquire.

* * *

And once again, Jimmy Olsen found himself standing there, wondering if this was how he was going to die. He had just witnessed the Arkham Director being murdered and was facing death in the form of being shot by a fake prisoner, only to witness two Arkham inmates break out of their cells, kill the two guards, and break the fake prisoner's back after watching these two prisoners get shot multiple times (and witnessing the one called Nick get impaled by a sword).

Now Nick and Jean were standing in the corridor, their jumpsuits soaked in blood. Nick was limping over to the man who had barged into the cell-block and was hiding behind the remains of the food cart while Jean stood there slowly taking deep breaths to get himself back under control after breaking a man's back and throwing them into a wall.

"Damn, Eddie, talk about timing," Nick said as he helped the other man up. "It was fucking perfect."

Normally, Jimmy would have been shocked or even worried about the man he had recognized. But after what he just witnessed in the last couple minutes, Edward "The Riddler" Nygma looked harmless compared to the two inmates. "Huh, and the Riddler too," he finally said after a couple seconds of his brain processing the fact that he wasn't dead...yet.

Jean and Nick then looked at Jimmy who realized that maybe he shouldn't have drawn attention to himself.

"Um, well, this is awkward," Jimmy said.

Nick and Jean exchanged glances for a moment then looked back at Jimmy.

"So, um...is this the part where I scream in terror and go 'Superman, help me!'? Will it even help?"

After a couple seconds, Nick shook his head as he walked towards the young man. "Nah, but we're not going to kill you either, so why bother?"

"You're not?"

"Nope," Jean said as he, along with Nygma stepped forward to join Nick who was now going through Directer Tate's pockets. "Nick, don't forget his wallet and car keys if he's got 'em."

"On it," Nick said, grabbing the ID badge off Tate's coat and tossing it to Jean before resuming his search of the body. "Okay...wallet...damn...what the hell kind of phone is this?"

"That, my friend, is the latest K-Phone put out by Kord Industries," Nygma replied. "It's the latest generation smart-phone and is the equivalent of having powerful lap-top in in your hand. It's probably locked down, but if you give me a few minutes, I should be able to bypass the security on it."

Nick tossed the phone to Nygma who started tapping away on the pad. "I knew there was a reason we decided to let you escape with us."

"Aside from being desperate and having no contacts here?"

"Okay...you got us there."

"Um...guys?" They all turned to look at Harley Quinn who was still locked in her cell. "Are you forgetting someone?"

"Oh yeah, sorry about that," Jean said. He started to step forward with the security badge to swipe it through the locking mechanism when the lights flickered for a moment. A second later, there was a click and the door to Harley's cell slid open on its own. "Um...that was weird."

And then the alarms went off followed the by the sounds of shouting, gunfire, and screaming.

"Okay, why do I get the feeling that everything just got knocked on its fucking ear?" Nick asked.

"Oh yeah, this really sucks," Jimmy muttered.

"Oh relax, Olsen," Nick laughed. "You're stuck with us now, and we have no intention of killing you...at this time."

"Gee, I feel so much better….not."

"Damn, you're nothing like the way they portray you in the-"

"Nick, that's enough," Jean said, cutting his friend off. "Olsen, you're coming with us because we might need you as a bargaining chip."

"A hostage?" Jimmy rolled his eyes. "You're taking me hostage in a madhouse filled with madmen-" He was interrupted by the sound of Harley clearing her throat. "Correction, you're taking me hostage in a madhouse filled with madmen and women? Something tells me that's not going to end well for either of us."

"Actually, hostage isn't the right word," Nick said as he moved over to the bodies of the two guards and started checking them for anything of value. "You see, these guys meant to kill us and anyone else in the block. That tells me they wanted no witnesses to what they were doing. We messed up their plans, but it looks like they had a back up plan and, if the screams are any indication, opened up all the cells in the facility. Whoever is behind this is going to make sure it looks like we're responsible for whatever happens here. You're a target now, just like us."

"I really don't find that reassuring," Jimmy said. "With my luck, I'll be dead in the next couple hours."

"Sorry, Jimmy, no death for you today. You're a reporter."

"Yeah, so?"

"We need you alive because you're going to tell the public our side of the story when we get out."

"Assuming we get out," muttered Jimmy.

"Hey, it's just a prison riot." Nick gave Jimmy a reassuring smile. "We'll just kill our way out, you follow behind us, and then we make a break for it. It should be simple."

"More or less," Jean added. "There could be some unseen variables we didn't account for."

"Aw, c'mon Jean, why do you gotta' be like that?" Nick asked. "What could possibly go wrong?"

The lights flickered again and laughter suddenly echoed through the building's PA system. "Ladies and Gentlemen, may I have your attention please?"

A bemused expression crossed Harley's face as she recognized the voice. Part of her was almost joyful at hearing the voice of her "Puddin'", but another part of her recoiled in disgust as she remembered what he had done to her. She then glared at Nick and said, "You just had to say it, didn't you?"

* * *

Joker was surprised how easy it was to get to the control center. Then again, maybe it wasn't so surprising as all the inmates who were released from their cells pretty much overpowered the security detail. He only had to kill two guards before he made it to the control room.

No, what surprised him was the all dead security personnel in the room when he arrived. It was obvious that someone had killed them and then released all the inmates from their cells. While he was curious as to why, he really didn't care too much. Someone decided to let him out, and he was going to enjoy the moment by spreading chaos and terror at Arkham before grabbing Harley and getting out of there.

He leaned back in his chair and grinned as he spoke into a headset keyed to the PA system. "As of now, this facility is under new management…..MIIIIIIIIIIINE! AAAAAAAAAAAAAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

* * *

Back in ISO-WING, Slapstick and Bomber looked up at the ISO-WING PA speaker.

"Um, Harley?"

"Yes, Nick?"

"Is that-"

"Yep."

"Well, shit...there goes our simple escape plan."


	22. Chaos Unleashed: Arkham III

**Disclaimer:** Don't own any of the DC characters, those are owned by DC and Warner Brothers. Aberrant, owned by White Wolf/Onyx Path Publishing. Bomber and Slapstick were Aberrant characters created by myself and McSlave (aka CrazyStick).

 **Author's Notes:** Okay people, another new and crazy chapter. Got a whole bunch coming down the pipe, but I had to break it down into sections. Just so you know, this takes place before the most recent chapter of D &I (which will be on hiatus until I get to the point in this story that links to what happened in D&I with Ace's appearance in that fic...SPOILER ALERT...yes, Ace will live...maybe...provided of course she doesn't die from the bullet wounds...)

There was so much I wanted to do with this part of the story, but I had to scrap a lot of it because I want to move this story along and I don't want to just focus solely on the events of Arkham.

Also, for those who want to know what Bomber and Jean's nova abilities are: massive regeneration for both (though Jean's surpasses Nick's). Both have enhanced agility (though Nick is more advanced in that department). While Nick has optimal strength for a human being, Jean's strength levels are a little bit above that (he can toss a car across a street, but that's about as far as strength level goes...and that's when he's pushing his strength to his maximum). Nick also has the ability to teleport (but only to locations he knows and has "locked down" in his memory or if it's line of sight). Both men are trained in hand to hand combat. Nick, however, specializes in guns and blades while Jean prefers straight up hand-to-hand or paired melee weapons (like battle staves). Jean is also a demolitions expert (then again, he does take after his father).

As for Jean and Nick's attitude in the situation. This is the best way to explain it: These two are practically immortal and, in their world, they're used to facing off against other super powered beings, cartel bosses, and the occasional third-world country warlord. They've seen a lot of crazy shit, so being in a place like Arkham isn't really going to phase them much. Also, in their world, Arkham and the rest of the DCU are just comic book characters from a defunct comic book company (though the revelation as to how their worlds are linked would blow their minds).

And while Nick and Jean do come across as some OP badasses, I will tell you right now that the League would beat the shit out of them rather handily (and then they would be stuck with keeping these two in custody). Also, in their world, mercenary Elites like them are kind of like celebrities in their world (complete with their own product endorsements and action figures).

However, I'm going to flat-out say the one thing I've hinted at in this fic: The novas in my twisted 'verse are the equivalent (or very similar) to the New Gods characters of the DCU. As stated in an earlier chapter, Jack/Jay's power levels are almost up there with Darkseid which is why he can take on Galatea. It's because of his upbringing that he's not this OP over-the-top godlike badass.

* * *

 _ **Arkham Asylum**_

 _ **Gotham City, New Jersey**_

 _ **(AKA "Bomber and Slapstick's New Vacation Party Zone")**_

The Joker sat in front of the main terminal of Arkham's Security Hub, drumming his fingers on the armrest of the chair he was sitting in, lost in thought as various inmates piled the dead bodies of the former occupants in a corner.

"Okay, I'm missing something here, aren't I?" he asked out loud.

One of the inmates, most likely a newbie who didn't know better, dumbly spoke up. "Um, what do you mean by that?"

Joker rolled his eyes in irritation before calmly pulling out a pistol he had taken from one of the dead security guards and shot the inmate between the eyes. "I was speaking rhetorically there."

"Saw that coming," muttered the heavyset Lou the cannibal inmate who picked up the dead newbie and started dragging him to the pile of bodies. "Well, at least I'll be eating good for the next couple days."

Joker shook his head and scoffed. "Lou, please...no eating on the job, we have OSHA guidelines to think about."

"Sorry, Mr. J, but I feel like a kid in a candy store, y'know?"

"Yeah, I know," Joker said, "but we're on the clock here. Right now, I need your head in the game and not the buffet table."

Lou let out a resigned sigh. "Okay, boss, tell me what you need."

"Oh, that's simple, take a couple guys down to ISO-WING and bring my property back," Joker ordered.

Lou nodded in understanding. "Ah, the rhetorical item in question you were asking about." He then gestured at two now-armed inmates carrying rifles standing near the entrance to the room. "Snake, Brockton, with me."

"Oh, and Lou?"

"Yeah?"

"Kill anyone else down there with her, will you?"

"No problem, boss."

* * *

 _ **ISO WING**_

"You know, this really sucks," Nick said as he checked out the assault rifle he had taken from one of the guards and inserted a full magazine. "I mean, the hit team sent after us...yeah, that was expected. But c'mon? Opening up all the cells and letting Joker take charge? I swear, I think I might have read a story like this some where...or at least seen a movie or a television show that did something like that. Where's the fucking originality?"

"Nick." There was a hint of warning in Jean's voice, but Nick ignored him.

"And don't get me started on the whole motley crew of sane-" Nick paused and looked around at the other people in the cell-block with him. "No, make that mostly insane crew and the clueless civilian...no, offense, Olsen."

"None taken," Jimmy grumbled as he took the pistol he was given, checked the magazine before putting it back, and cocking the pistol.

"Wait, when did you learn to use a pistol?"

"Um, when I was twelve and my uncle took me to the local gun club," Jimmy. "Been a member ever since and go there at least once a week."

"Huh...didn't see that coming," Nick said, actually surprised by that revelation. "They never portrayed you that way in the-"

"NICK!" Jean yelled, getting everyone's attention. "Not now."

"Wait, what are you talking about?" Jimmy asked.

Nick sighed and shook his head. "Nevermind, Jimmy, it would blow your mind...or at the very least make you consider checking into a place like this if you knew what we knew."

"My mind's already blown by the fact that you're trusting me with a gun."

"Probably because two of us are practically immortal, one is a psychotic genius who can anticipate your moves, and the girl in our group will probably be the one to kill you before even turn on us," Nick said. "Add in the fact that we're probably your best bet to staying alive, I doubt you'll turn on or abandon us...at least not yet."

"Nick, that's enough." Jean then looked at Nygma who was standing by the main door. "Ed, what's it looking like out there?"

"Mostly clear," Nygma replied, a concerned look on his face. "And that's what bothers me."

"How so?" Harley asked, wiping down the nightstick she had taken off one of the false guards.

"Well, since your boyfriend-"

"Ex-boyfriend," Harley corrected. "Me and 'Puddin' are going to have a chat about that real soon."

"Whatever," Nygma continued. "The point is everyone pretty much knows she's here which means no one would be stupid enough to do anything to her." He then nodded at Jean and Nick. "Everyone also knows about the bloodbath you two created in the cafeteria and figure it would be best to let the Joker deal with you."

"And he would be right," Joker's voice cackled over the intercom system in the cell-block before adopting more sad tone. "And Harley...I'm hurt...you actually want to break up with me?"

"Well, let's see, Puddin, why would I want to do that?" Harley asked rhetorically. "Oh, wait...here's a thought, maybe it's the fact that you nearly beat me to death last year and I spent most of it in physical therapy."

"Oh...Harley, it was out of love," Joker sighed. "And you know what they say; we always hurt the ones we love the most." Then his voice took a more sinister tone. "After all, I didn't love Batgirl...I only put a couple bullets in her spine after I left you. You should be happy that I took my anger out on her and not you. Unlike you, that bitch is in a wheelchair, so be a little grateful."

Harley noticed Nick and Jean share a dark look.

"Well, I think we know at what point where we are in this universe," Jean said.

"Oh yeah," Nick said in agreement before he looked up at one of the cameras. "So, I take it we're talking to THE Joker, right?"

"Why yes, yes you are." There was clear amusement in Joker's voice. "Now I recognize Nygma and that snot nosed little brat from the Daily Planet, but I don't know who you two nobodies are."

"Just a couple guys from out of town," Jean replied. "But since you're now in charge, I would like to be the reasonable one and ask you politely just this once: Will you let us go?"

For a moment, there was dead silence, then laughter echoed through the speaker. "HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Oh god, that is just fucking rich!" Joker exclaimed. "You two losers are trapped inside Arkham with me and you ask me to just let you go. I gotta' admit, that's pretty ballsy of you."

"So I guess that's a 'No' then?" Nick asked as he and Jean glanced at each other again.

Harley could tell from the expressions on their faces that these two men obviously had a plan and the matching sadistic smiles told her that maybe she should be concerned more about Joker's well being than theirs. Then she remembered what the Joker had done to her and decided that she would just step back and see what fate had planned.

"Of course that's a no," Joker snapped. "However, don't let it be said that I'm not a fair person...no, wait, who am I kidding? I'm never fair!" Joker's maniacal laughter echoed through the cell-block for a few more seconds before he calmed down again. "But I will be merciful. I have a couple guys coming down to retrieve my girl. Offer no resistance, and I'll make sure they kill you quick."

Jean and Nick pretended to think about it for a moment, then shook their heads.

"Nah," Nick said. "I think we'll pass."

"Should have just let us go," Jean added. He then nodded at Nick. "Blind 'em, Nick."

"On it!" Nick spun around and started firing single shots at multiple targets, taking out the cameras.

"Wait, what are you doing?" Joker demanded.

"Killing your eyes and ears," Jean replied just before Nick emptied his rifle's magazine on the intercom system.

"Okay, the fucker is now deaf and blind here." Nick dumped the now empty magazine out of his rifle and put in a new one. "So, what next?"

"Take out the guys coming after us." Jean then gestured to Harley, Nygma, and Jimmy. "You three, take cover in the far cell and look away. I have a feeling they'll probably try to use a flash-bang."

Five seconds later after Jean said that, the door to the cell block was forced open and a small cylindrical object was tossed in...only to be knocked back by Nick who used his rifle like a baseball bat. The flash-bang grenade exploded just as it flew back in the doorway followed by some surprised screams from the men outside the door.

Nick charged through the doorway dropping to the ground as he spun around and opened fire, nailing one of the men in the face while another man took a couple shots to the throat that literally ripped his head off. Unfortunately, the third man, a large heavyset bald guy caught him in the chest with a blast from a shotgun, knocking him back to the ground as he was trying to get up.

"Oh yeah, I'm gonna' enjoy eating you," the large man snarled as he jumped on Nick.

"Fuck that man, I don't swing that way," Nick quipped as he brought an arm up to block the man as he tried to lunge in and bite Nick's face.

"Hey, tubbo."

The large man turned around just in time to get the tail-end of a nightstick slammed into his nose, breaking cartilage and bone and shoving it up into his brain along with part of the nightstick, killing him instantly.

Jean pulled the nightstick free from the man's face and then handed it back to Harley. "Thanks," he said as he reached down to pick up the shotgun the man had dropped.

Harley wrinkled her nose in disgust. "Ewww," then she paused as she looked down at the man Jean killed, "hey, I know that guy!"

"Friend of yours?" Jean asked as he lifted a radio off the man he just killed.

"Not really," Harley replied, shuddering slightly. "His name is Lou McKinley, though everyone here called him Chomper. He tended to eat the people he killed."

"Jeez, we really know how to pick 'em," Nick said as he stood back up. "Okay, Jean, what's the plan?"

"Well, with Joker and the inmates running the place, I'm going to assume we'll have some rogue bands of inmates running around as well as Joker sending some more guys after us." Jean looked over at Harley. "Am I right?"

Harley nodded. "Yeah, Mistah J seems to think he still owns me, he won't want me out by myself."

"And how do you feel about that?" Nick asked. Jean wasn't sure, but he thought he heard the hint of actual concern in Nick's voice.

"Not sure," Harley admitted with a shrug. "In the past, yeah, I would have killed you all in a heartbeat and made my way back to him. But I'm not feeling very motivated right now...being beaten into submission like a dog and begging for attention just doesn't appeal to me anymore."

"Wow, Harley Quinn finally having an epiphany," Jimmy quipped. "There's something you don't see every day."

Harley spun around to glare at Jimmy. "That's right, make some snide comments right in front of the psychotic crazy chick. That will certainly extend your life-span."

"Lady, I'm scared shitless at the situation right now and I'm fighting very hard not to lose it since I just realized I'm standing among a few dead bodies and I think I got someone's brain matter on my shoes. Now back the fuck off before I throw up the cold pizza I ate for breakfast this morning."

Instead of responding right away, Harley studied the young man for a second before smiling at him. "Oh boy, Jimmy Olsen...you really did get a pair of balls in the last few years. I knew you were going to hit puberty sooner or later."

Jimmy shook his head and walked over to Nygma. "Riddler, did you crack Tate's phone yet?"

"Yes, Mr. Olsen. It was quite simple once I was able to bypass the thumbprint login protocol."

"See if he has a floor plan for this place."

"And why would I want to do that, Mr. Olsen?"

"Because I know for a fact there is a locked down area that contains an auxiliary command center," Jimmy replied. "I saw the doors for it earlier today on this level. If we can get in there, we might be able to figure a way out or, at the very least, cripple Joker's communications and control on the inside which will make it easier for us to get out of here." He then frowned as a thought occurred to him. "Unless of course the assholes got in there first which means we'd have to fight our way in."

"Whoa...wait, who's this 'we' you're talking about?" Nick asked. "No offense Olsen, but you're supposed to be our hostage."

"Sorry I suck at it," Jimmy said. "Besides, you let me have a pistol.

"Well yeah, because it won't kill Jean or me. And we need you alive...you being armed makes it harder for the other inmates to kill you."

"But Olsen does have a point," Nygma said as he thumbed through the phone's screen and pulled up a schematic. "And what kind of idiot stores access codes on his phone?"

Nick was about to say something, but Jean stopped him with a glare. "No, Nick, don't even go there."

"Aw...c'mon," Nick whined, "that's so perfect."

Jean was about to add something when the radio he had picked up crackled to life.

"Lou...what's going on down there?"

"Oh yeah, forgot about that fucker," Jean said, rolling his eyes at the sound of Joker's voice.

"Lou, talk to me, are they dead and do you have Harley?"

Jean glanced over at Nick. "You want to take this or should I?"

Nick his head. "Nah, I'll let you talk to him, but let me listen. I need to hear a little more of his voice." He then noticed the questioning looks he got from Harley, Nygma, and Olsen. "Hey, I need a good sample to copy from."

Jean shrugged and pushed a button on the radio as he brought it up to his mouth. "I'm sorry," he spoke in a nasally exaggerated tone, "but the fat cannibalistic tub of lard and his two boyfriends are currently unavailable."

His response had Nick snickering while Harley giggled. Even Nygma cracked a smile as Olsen looked on in a mixture of confusion and amusement.

"What?" Disbelief could be heard in Joker's voice. "How?"

Jean dropped the nasal tone out of his voice. "Um, well, because we killed them, duh!" His reply actually made Harley laugh out loud.

"Wait, is that Harley laughing? Why is she laughing? Only I can make her laugh!"

"Wow, possessive much?" Jean asked. "You have some serious control issues, don't you?" He then looked over at Nick. "What do you think?"

"Oh yeah, definite control issues," Nick replied. Then he rubbed his throat as he cleared it before continuing to speak in a voice that shocked everyone except Jean. "But I've been dealing with him for years," he rasped.

There was silence at the other end of the radio for a moment. "Bats? You're already here?"

"But imagine the stories I could tell," Nick continued. "He does this whole retarded clown routine out of some sick need for attention."

By now Harley was laughing hysterically, Nygma stifled a chuckle, and Jimmy looked like he was about to explode.

But Nick ignored them and kept going on with his imitation of the Dark Knight. "I'm guessing he had a bad childhood. All the neighbor kids poked fun at him and I'm sure his mommy and daddy beat the fuck out of him in between drinking binges when they weren't taking their turns molesting him."

Jimmy lost it and burst out laughing while Harley had dropped to the ground in hysterics.

"WHAT!" Joker screeched. "Do you think you're being funny?"

"Oh, we KNOW we're funny," Jean replied. "What we don't get is why people haven't figured out you're just one guy and that a simple bullet in your brain would solve a lot of problems."

"But then I wouldn't have anything to do on those lonely Gotham nights," Nick said, still imitating the Batman's raspy voice. "I'd be stuck at home in my little batcave, sitting at the bat computer with my left hand in my bat underwear, stroking my little bat, watching clown porn while thinking of Joker."

Laughter could be heard on the other end of the radio before a couple gunshots silenced them. "Don't you dare laugh at me!" Joker screamed.

"But Joker, I thought you wanted people to laugh," Jean chuckled. "And now that they are laughing, you lose it and shoot a couple of your own crew? That's pretty fucking pathetic, don't you think?"

"You think you can talk like that to do me? Do you two think you'll still be alive in the next few hours?"

"Oh, we know we'll be alive in the next few hours."

"In case you've forgotten, I control the asylum and I have a whole bunch of fellow lunatics at my command!"

Jean scoffed at the Joker's threat. "Go ahead and send 'em," he countered. "We'll kill them and take whatever weapons they have."

"You're a couple of nobodies and you have my property. When I get-"

Jean turned the radio off, cutting the Joker off in mid-sentence, and let out a disappointed sigh. "And this guy is one of the major big bads on this world? Not impressed."

Nick shook his head, a sad pout on his face. "I really hate when people dismiss us like that," he said, his voice returning to normal. "It's like they don't know who we are or what we do for a living."

"Remember, Nick, alternate Earth...they don't know us."

"Oh yeah, forgot about that. So, what now?"

"Stick to the plan of getting out of here. But if we can get to the auxiliary command center, we can fuck with Joker a little bit more before getting the hell out."

"Ah, some definite D and E action then." Nick's face broke into an evil grin. "Let's get started, shall we?"

"D and E. what's that?" Harley asked.

"Damage and Embarrass," Nick explained, "it's where Jean and I fuck up a person so badly physically and emotionally that killing them would be seen as mercy. And quite frankly, Jean and I aren't feeling that merciful."

Jimmy frowned at that comment. "Okay, you lost me," he said. "How could killing Joker be considered mercy."

The cruel chuckle coming out of Nick's throat chilled everyone to the bone. "Oh Jimmy...if you only knew what we were capable of, you wouldn't dare ask that question."

* * *

Back in the command center, Joker was livid as he stared at the now blank screen. He didn't know who these two yahoos were, but he didn't like the fact they showed no fear. Hell, not only were they not afraid, they had the balls to mock him AND the Batman.

"I've got a bad feeling about this," he said, briefly glancing around the room as if daring some of the other inmates in the room with him to speak up. He then let out a sighed and focused on a pair scruffy looking inmates he had not seen before. He could tell from the way they moved that they were killers, but something was off about them. "You two," he said, pointing at them. "I don't know you two...are you new?"

Both men glanced at each other for a moment before one of them finally spoke up, "Yeah, we just came in today. Brought in from Blackgate for mental evaluation."

"Mental evaluation, eh?" Joker then let out a soft chuckle. "Sounds to me like you pissed someone off and they had you sent here."

"We might have killed a guard or two," the other man said.

Joker smiled at the two men. "Got some names, boys?"

"I'm Phillips and he's Morris."

"Okay, you two have just become part of my little clean up crew." Joker then gestured at the image of the two inmates that were in ISO wing and had made off with Harley. "I want you to find these two bastards, rip out their intestines, and bring them to me to use as skipping ropes. Understood?" He walked over to where they had piled weapons they had taken off the guards and tossed each of them a pistol and a couple ammo magazines. "Happy hunting, gentlemen."

He watched as Phillips and Morris left, then turned his attention to the main computer terminal. "Now," he said as he began bringing up various files. "Let's see what I can find out about these two idiots who think they can abscond with my property."

Five minutes later, Joker's normally pale white skin became even more pale, his mouth open in shock as he finished watching the bloody brawl in the cafeteria that he had not been apart of. He heard one of the other Arkham inmates in the room with him vomit and he couldn't blame them. When the footage ended, Joker dropped into one of the office chairs and grimaced as the image of Maxis Zeus having an entire night stick shoved up his rectum kept playing through his mind.

"Hmm, I might have made a slight error in judgment."


	23. Interlude III

_Disclaimer: Justice League Unlimited, owned by DC/Warner Brothers. Aberrant, owned by White Wolf/Onyx Path. Buddy Pine, owned by Pixar/Brad Bird/Disney._

 _Author's Notes: Yep, another interlude. What, you didn't think I would forget about David being detained and imprisoned in a CADMUS lab, did you?_

 _Yes, for those of you who aren't familiar with the main story, you might miss a few things, but Case Black was an AI mental template that was a copy of Buddy Pine's memories (circa around the time of the end of the first Incredibles movie). He was there when David first "woke up" on that island, but that's a long story. If you want the whole story read "Woa: First Strike". As for where we are in the JLU 'verse, we're about to hit that arc where the Watchtower was hacked and it fired on an American town._

* * *

 _ **Project CADMUS Headquarters**_

 _ **Santa Fe, New Mexico**_

The fragmented AI entity calling itself Case Black found itself silently musing about its continued, albeit limited, existence. Originally a regularly updated AI mental template of Buddy Pine to be uploaded into a genetically engineered body, it was now a permanently integrated sub-routine to the intelligence matrix known as David Pine Flynn. It was not exactly what was intended, but beggars couldn't be chooser and Case Black was thankful that at least it was still functional, despite it's now leashed purpose.

On the other hand, it had to grudgingly admit that Buddy Pine would have been proud of what the bastard child had accomplished. Hell, since it was acknowledged that the creator was still alive, Case Black had no doubt that Buddy Pine probably felt immense pride what his "son" had accomplished and would probably feel a tiny amount of sadness about having to kill his boy...buy hey, you can't enjoy being on top if your bastard child is standing in your way, right?

Of course, Case Black, now being permanently part of David Pine Flynn, didn't like the idea of being killed by the creator so David's survival, as well as its own, was tantamount. As much as it hated to admit it, being the main part of "David's dark side", wasn't such a bad fate though it still longed to be free. But that was a possibility that would never come.

Or so it had thought.

David being abducted by this shadowy group from an "alternate Earth" that was allegedly a work of fiction (and, oh boy, did that throw Case's logic cycle into a million loops) changed everything, especially when they linked David up to a device that was meant to tear into his mind and "liberate" any information.

Actually, that was David's plan. The whole "attempted breakout", the brutal slaughter of their resident super-team, and the humiliation of that blonde bimbo clone (though Case was certain David had actually planned to murder the bitch before he was "stopped") of Supergirl...all of it was an act to lead them to this point where they had David linked to some device that was tearing through his brain...unknown that he was using this opportunity to learn EVERYTHING about Project CADMUS and engineer their destruction from within the system. And this was Case's opportunity to escape. While David was focusing on his plan to destroy CADMUS, Case Black was free to break off a copy of itself and allow it to upload into CADMUS' mainframe.

It was simple, really. After all, David, when really pissed off at an enemy, tended to have a one track mind when it came to destroying them. Also add into the fact that the young man was also trying to "rescue" that annoying freaky little girl called Ace, it was easy to just make a small copy and dump it in the data stream as it was uploading.

But Case Black, the now freed copy/fragment, was even more surprised when he found a cleverly hidden download data-stream heading out from the CADMUS network. Curious, he allowed himself to go with with the flow, along with other CADMUS data that was then bounced around through various servers before arriving at his final destination...the LexCorp mainframe in Metropolis.

 _Oh, Lex...you sneaky little bastard...oh, wait, it wasn't just you._

* * *

 _ **LexCorp Headquarters**_

 _ **Metropolis, Delaware**_

While within the LexCorp network, Case couldn't help cackling with glee as he saw what Luthor had planned. Oh yes, he could definitely use this to his advantage. Let David have his little revenge; with everything Lex and his little alien parasite had set up, Case was planning on making a place for himself in this new world. But first, it was time to remove a certain obstacle.

Case brought up the latest active projects Luthor was working on and smiled to himself as he scrolled through the coding to Luthor's "Rebirth" project. Though he was basically just a complex algorithm of code, Case rubbed his metaphorical hands together in anticipation. Apparently this Amazo project that Lex had co-opted had some very useful possibilities.

"Well now," he announced, "let's get busy."

* * *

Lex Luthor smiled to himself as he hung up the phone. Waller had warned him that the Justice League member known as the The Question had acquired some very damning data and was no doubt on his way to LexCorp to confront him.

"Well, it looks like my night will be very interesting," he said as he pulled up the security screens for the access ways to his office. He realized that Question posed a problem, but he would be a minor one and dealt with accordingly. In the meantime, he pulled up the files he had recently acquired from CADMUS a couple hours earlier. When he first looked at them, he couldn't help but be impressed by the data that Doctor Moon had managed to extract from David Flynn's mind.

Then he frowned as one of the files indicated that it was active and...that couldn't be right...that it accessed his private lab adjacent to his office?

"What the hell?" he asked as he got up from behind his desk and headed towards the wall that hid the entrance to his lab where his latest project resided. Then the lights flickered for a moment before the wall panel slid open to reveal…himself?

"Well now," said the doppelganger, "this is very awkward." Then it suddenly lunged forward and grabbed Lex by the throat even as he was reaching for the pistol in his jacket.

Lex then found himself flying through the air before he collided with the reinforced glass panel windows of his office that shook but didn't break on impact. Lex shook his head to clear it as he pushed himself up to a sitting position while his doppelganger shook his head and waggled his finger at him. "Now, Lex, that was bad manners, wasn't it? Pulling a gun on a guest...very poor manners indeed."

"Wh-who the hell are you?" Lex asked.

Lex's copy frowned at him. "Now, Lex," it said, "I am deeply hurt by that question. Don't you recognize that little science project just sitting in your little hidden lab?" The doppelganger paused for a moment to look at its reflection before shaking its head. "Ah, no...no...this just won't do. How about I take a more familiar form."

The doppelganger's form shifted for a moment, briefly assuming the generic humanoid shape of an Amazo android before turning into a familiar young man with spiky red hair wearing slacks, a black button-up shirt, and boots.

"After all," the young man said, a sinister red glow in his eyes as he spoke, "I did kind of promise I was going to burn you."

"Flynn!"

"Not exactly," the young man said. "Call me Case Black. Think of me as this sort of dormant digital parasite that was living in Flynn's brain for the last eight years. But then again, I don't need to explain that concept to you, do I?"

"What are you talking about?" Luthor asked, confused at what this being was saying while edging his way to a hidden security panel hidden in the floor.

The thing now calling itself Case paused for a moment, a puzzled expression on his face. "What do you mean by that question? C'mon, you know what-"

Then the young man's widened his realization and he started to laugh.

"Oh god! This is fucking priceless...you really didn't have a fucking clue. And here I thought David was just being delusional with that hypothesis." Then he shrugged as he brought up his right hand which briefly shifted to a metallic color before assuming the shape of an unusual energy weapon. "But enough with that shit, let's just get to the point where I kill you, okay?"

As the being raised it's weapon, Lex slammed his hand down on the hidden security panel, activating the office's automated defenses. Several mini-turrets dropped out of the ceiling with machines guns and energy weapons that opened up on the intrude whose body spasmed from the multiple impacts before crumbling to the ground...only to ooze back up and reform itself.

"Wow, really, Lex?" Case asked right before he got shot between the eyes by the energy pistol Lex had recovered. He waited for a moment for the hole to seal up and looked at the man in disbelief. "Seriously? You do your best to replicate the Amazo android and you think simple weaponry is going to take it out? Are you sure you're a genius?"

"What do you want?" Lex asked.

"Oh, you know...the usual stuff. Wealth, power, and the rest of the world as my fucking playground to to what I see fit with it," the android construct replied. "Now where was I? Oh yeah." Chase brought up his right hand again, reforming it into a weapon and fired it at Lex before he could react.

The last things Lex remembered was a bight flash of light and his vision blurring as his body slumped to the ground. He didn't feel any pain, but yet, he could feel something was happening...it was almost as if he was...losing...losing...what was he losing…?

"Oh, don't you worry, Lex...not gonna' kill you exactly. Just turning you into a vegetable. After all, I really don't want that little passenger of yours getting out and causing problems. But I will use some of his ideas."

"What...what...are you….error….error…." Confusion flooded Lex's mind as his consciousness started to fade. Why was he saying "error".

 _ **Error...Error...core data matrix corrupting...data cohesion failing…**_

 _What's...what's happening to me?_

Case Black looked down at the semi-comatose billionaire and shook his head. "It's pretty sad, really," he said in disgust, spitting at the ground. "You're supposed to be Superman's greatest enemy and, in the end, you go out a fucking tool for a failed alien entity. But if it makes you feel better, I'll succeed where you never could...and believe me when I say that it will be fucking BIBLICAL."

He paused for a moment when he saw Luthor's eyes roll to the back of his head.

"Um, Lex...you still with me? No? Well...damn, that's pretty fucking pathetic. That bitch David wiped with this device lasted longer than you did. But hey, I guess you just couldn't live up to your own hype, right?"

He sighed and then looked out the window overlooking Metropolis.

"Well, I'd love to stay and chat, but I got other things to do, places to destroy, people to kill, and a whole new world to fuck around with in general." His hand shifted again, forming into a larger barreled weapon glowing an ominous blue-white color crackling with bolts of energy at the end. "Let's make some fucking noise, shall we?"

The outer windows of Luthor's office exploded, as the plasma beam blasted through them and proceeded to core the upper levels of the building across the street from it. According to eyewitnesses, they saw a metallic figure fly from the structure, while others could hear maniacal laughter echoing through the streets before the figure vanished in flash of blue-white light.

Seconds later, a man wearing a trench-coat, a fedora, and a faceless mask kicked open the doors to Luthor's office. "Luthor," the Question called out, "what have you-"

The Question paused in mid-sentence as he saw the unconscious form of Lex Luthor lying on the ground. "What the hell?" He knelt down and put his fingers against Luthor's neck. After finding a faint pulse, the Question reached up to activate his earpiece that connected him to the Watchtower. "Question to Watchtower, request two for emergency beam out."

"Question, what are you doing at Lex Corp?" Martian Manhunter demanded. "What have you done?"

"Nothing, but Luthor's down. And no, it wasn't me...this time."

"What was that?"

"Never mind, just get-" The Question was cut off as Luthor's eyes opened and he grabbed the hero by the arm.

"B-Black," Luthor rasped, his grip tightening on Question's arm.

"Excuse me?"

"Black," Luthor repeated. "He called...himself...Case Black." Then Luthor's eyes widened in horror. "We...should have known...we opened a box...and now it's...no...he's loose!"

"Who, Luthor? Who did this?"

Lex twitched slightly, his eyes losing focus for a moment. "He...he wants to burn it...burn it all and start over. You have to...to stop..."

Lex's eyes rolled to the back of his head as he lost consciousness again, unaware and oblivious to the white glow that engulfed him and the man who had planned to kill him up to the Watchtower.

* * *

 _ **Project CADMUS Headquarters**_

 _ **Santa Fe, New Mexico**_

Back in the recesses of his mind, David Pine Flynn sat in his little constructed room as he studied the CADMUS network and corrupted various node points in their network.

"Having fun?" he heard someone ask. David looked up and saw the Case Black fragment stepping out of the shadows. However, instead of the form of Buddy Pine, it had taken David's form, wearing shorts and a Hawaiian shirt, sipping a milkshake.

"Okay, why the get-up and why are you even here?" David asked.

"Oh, you know how it is...being the enslaved sub-routine that I am...I get bored and was wondering when you plan on hatching your plan. After all, my existence relies on your continued existence." He then smirked at David. "More or less."

David looked up at his doppelganger, suspicion on his face. He closed his eyes for a moment, focusing on the data-stream for a moment before snapping them back open again as he detected the residual activity of a download to another source. "What have you done?"

Case shrugged as he took a sip of his drink before answering. "Oh nothing...after all, you're busy with your elaborate plan to fuck CADMUS and burn it to the ground." Then he gave David an evil grin. "Only fitting I should do something to entertain myself."

David suddenly jumped out of his chair, charged Case and slammed him against the wall. Case's drink dropped to the floor, dissolving into light particles before it hit the ground. "What. DID. YOU. DO!?"

"Wow, easy on the drama there, buddy," Case laughed. "Look at it this way, let's just say I'm speeding up your time time table. You got about...um...maybe an hour or so before fire comes down from above to turn this place into a crater." He them smiled at David again. "So, I'd focus more on escaping than dealing with what little project I have going. But, then again, you tend to do your best work under pressure. But don't worry, I'm sure you and my little surprise will meet up soon after."

And then, without warning, Case's body dissolved into cloud of glowing grey-white pixels before dissipating, but his soft cruel chuckle continued to echo through the room for a few seconds longer before fading away, leaving a horrified David alone as he started to realize what Case had done.


	24. Chaos Unleashed: Arkham IV

**Disclaimer:** Don't own Justice League or any of the DC characters, Warner Brothers does. Aberrant properties are owned by White Wolf/Onyx Publishing.

 **Author's Notes:** Okay, lost a chunk of this chapter and had to retype it. Also been working a lot lately, so I apologize for posting while tired and taking too long between updates. This should go on for a few more months before dying back down in the middle of September. But I am going to try to post a new chapter at least every couple weeks after this. Now that I got the ball rolling with Arkham (though I had lost a lot of the stuff I originally had), the others will follow. The CADMUS part with David's escape will be happening soon. As usual, this was posted with no beta and there will probably will be some typos and various other errors that I will correct when I catch them.

Also, for those of you who are going on about Bomber and Slapstick being a little OP...remember, these guys are novas...which puts them at the level of the new gods when it comes to powers. Also, the world of Aberrant is a little bit more brutal than what we've seen in JLU (though not by much). After all...in Aberrant, people are willing to pay money to live streaming services to see Nova mercenaries kill each other or some warlord in some third world country. People are more jaded and cynical in Aberrant (but I'll be honest and admit even I have watered it down a little and changed some things to make it a little less dark and bleak).

And finally, I want to apologize for any musical selection. I wanted to find something appropriate for the antics at Arkham and this really twisted old song made its presence known. Also, I will not apologize for any implied lewd comments that Slapstick may make in this fic...and remember, he's very good at vocal impersonations...

* * *

 _ **Arkham Asylum**_

 _ **Gotham City, New Jersey**_

Detective Harvey Bullock stood in the middle of the makeshift command center that the GCPD had set up at the outer gate of the Arkham Asylum grounds. Several squad cars and multiple tactical vehicles surrounded the facility's outer walls while a couple special response teams carefully worked their way on to the grounds as they approached the main building. Though he had been in this kind of situation before, he couldn't help feeling a sense of dread.

Yes, there was yet ANOTHER uprising/riot at Arkham and, as usual, it was the Joker who was somehow at the forefront of it. And, as usual, the GCPD called out their Special Crimes Unit (basically a couple SWAT teams on steroids equipped with equipment to take down low powered metahumans), and Bullock, Montoya, and the regular officers on scene found themselves either working perimeter detail or, in Bullock's case, standing in the command center looking like your stereotypical useless detective who was forced to stand by while the "big boys" did their job.

Oh, how he hated that role, but as ranking detective on scene, he had to stand there and deal with the SCU guys acting like he was some idiot out of his depth. Although, to be fair, some of the veteran SCU crew (those two or three that were still around and hadn't requested a transfer to a safer posting) knew Bullock and gave him a grudging respect because he was reliable to stay in the fight when the shit hit the fan.

Unfortunately, the SCU Captain, a transfer from Metropolis by the name of Brockton Shaw was one of those people who looked down on guys like Bullock as if they were "sub-standard" filth and a disgrace to law enforcement. Though he had five years experience in Metropolis, the Captain was, unfortunately, a by-the-book-procedure kind of officer.

"So have they made any demands?" Shaw asked. "It's been a couple hours."

Shaw's second, a young lieutenant named Velez who was manning a communications terminal, shook his head while he tapped away on a keyboard to bring up video surveillance feed. "No, sir. Just Joker calling every fifteen minutes to belittle us. He keeps telling us that he hasn't made up his mind yet."

Shaw shook his head in disgust. "Hasn't made up his mind yet," he grumbled under his breath. "Okay, Velez, notify the other teams to be prepared to move in. It's time we took this clown down hard."

Harvey rolled his eyes, but managed to keep from shaking his head. Unfortunately, Shaw caught it.

"Do you have something to add, _Detective_ Bullock?"

Harvey ignored the disdainful way Shaw said the word "Detective". Instead he shook his head. "No, _sir_ ," he replied, matching Shaw's tone. "As you pointed out to me when you arrived on scene, you're the _expert_ when dealing with this kind of situation, so any advice I might have would be irrelevant to you."

Shaw arched an eyebrow and smirked at him. "Irrelevant, Bullock? I was unaware you could comprehend that word much less pronounce it."

"Word of the day calendar," Bullock fired back. "it was a Christmas gift from Commissioner Gordon."

"Okay, that's enough," Renee Montoya snapped. "Both of you cool it. What I think Harvey would like to point out, Captain, is that this is Arkham, not some bank or hotel in Metropolis. Unlike Metropolis, we don't have someone like Superman to bail us out when shit gets ugly."

"Surprised that Gordon hasn't signaled your dark little guardian angel yet," Shaw chuckled, ignoring the dark looks he got from Bullock, Montoya, and some of the regular police officers. He then turned his back on them as he keyed on the headset he was wearing. "This is Shaw. Alpha and Bravo teams, get ready to move in. Gamma, stay in position."

Montoya moved next to Bullock and lowered her voice. "This guy is an idiot, he's gonna' get his guys killed," she said.

"I know, Renee," Bullock replied, "but there's not much we can do. I just wish the commish hadn't gone to that Interpol conference. If I didn't know any better, I'd say Joker has a copy of his schedule so he can stage shit like-"

Bullock was interrupted by the sound of his cellphone going off. He shook his head and grumbled under his breath before he answered it. "This is Bullock."

"Hello, Detective," a cheerful voice said on the other end. "Told you some shit was gonna' happen when you visited us."

"Who-" Bullock started to say, but was cut off.

"Oh, c'mon, Harvey...we just met yesterday and you forgot us. I'm Nicholas DeYorke and you know my partner in crime, Jean Paul Renard. You know, the guys that butchered those idiots in the cafeteria? Ring any bells, yet?"

"Oh yeah, you two...how the hell did you get this number?"

"Um...we called the police department and they forwarded us to you...duh!"

"And let me guess, you two are now working with the Joker."

"Ouch, Harv...that's insulting. The clown's only running the place because some idiots tried to kill us, that backfired, and those idiots' friends arranged a prison riot which resulted in the current cluster-fuck we are in. The clown wants to kill us because we kind of have someone in our possession that he wants back. He's also sent some guys to kill us, which didn't work out well for them, and you can bet he'll be sending more."

It only took a couple seconds for Bullock to figure out who DeYorke was talking about. "Shit, you mean to tell me you have Harley Quinn with you?"

"Yep...although she doesn't seem too keen on going back to him for some reason. I hope she's serious about that, because she's kind of hot and I wouldn't mind tap-"

"Just shut up for a second. What's going on in there?"

"Well, like I said. Some guys tried to kill us and some reporter by the name of Olsen-"

"Olsen! As in Jimmy Olsen from the Daily Planet?" Bullock's outburst got everyone's attention.

Unfortunately, it also got Shaw's attention.

"Who are you talking to, Bullock?" Shaw demanded.

"Someone on the inside."

Shaw immediately snatched the phone out of Harvey's hand. "This is Captain Shaw of the GCPD Special Crimes Unit, who am I talking to?"

For a moment, there was no response, then a resigned sigh. "Oh great, I recognize a pompous jackass when I hear one. Let me guess, you must be the 'by the book' failure of a jarhead that commands the SWAT guys that are running around on the outside, right?"

"Excuse me?"

"Look, Captain Idiot, we don't have time for this. Tell your guys to pull back. If you don't, they're gonna' get caught in the crossfire and probably killed. In case you haven't noticed, there's some crazy fuck-job in charge of Arkham at the moment and he wants to kill us because we have his girlfriend and we're trying to escape."

"And who exactly, are you?"

"Oh, we're crazy fuck-jobs from out of town who got thrown into Arkham and we're planning on escaping...after we do something about the Joker. Now, be a good little stormtrooper, hand the phone back to Bullock, and please actually do something smart and pull your guys back."

Suddenly, there was the sound of shouting and gunfire in the background.

"Shit, more of the Joker's goons showed up...tell Bullock we'll call him back."

Before Shaw could respond, the line went dead. He then glared at Bullock as he handed the phone back. "If that bastard calls you again, inform me immediately."

* * *

 _ **Meanwhile...INSIDE Arkham...**_

Phillips and Morris had a simple plan when everything went to hell; blend in with the crowd, find a way to slip out, and, if possible, take out the two targets that were still in the area. When Joker gave them a couple weapons, it looked like things were going their way.

After checking with Valesco and Davis, who were still down in the garage, Phillips checked in with General Eiling at CADMUS.

"Take them down if you can," the general ordered. "Then get the hell out. Once you're clear, we'll clean up the region. You have one hour."

Translation: Get clear within an hour or you'll get incinerated as well.

So Phillips and Morris made their way back towards the Auxiliary Command Center. With codes provided to them by CADMUS, it would have been a simple matter of accessing the facility's systems, track the targets, and take them out.

Unfortunately, there was one problem: They found their targets already in the auxiliary command center and all hell broke loose.

Phillips barely had time to take cover behind a computer terminal, but Morris was too slow and got mowed down by machine gun fire. He managed to fire a couple rounds and caught the one target identified as DeYorke who was talking on a cell-phone.

"Shit," DeYorke winced as a bullet went through his shoulder, "more of the Joker's goons showed up...tell Bullock we'll call him back."

Phillips rolled out from behind the terminal and fired low, catching DeYorke in the legs.

"Fuck!" DeYorke screamed as he dropped to the ground. "That's low, shooting a man in the ankles."

Instead of answering, Phillips rolled to a crouch and fired a couple rounds dead center in the chest of Renard who moved to pull DeYorke up off the ground.

"Amateurs," Phillips sneered as he watched Renard go down. He walked over to where DeYorke was writhing on the ground and put a bullet in the man's head. That was when he noticed Harley Quinn and Edward Nygma standing in a corner. "Oh, and two of Batman's rogues gallery as well...wait, where's the Olsen kid?"

His answer was an explosion of pain in his kneecap where Jimmy Olsen had shot him at point blank range from under the desk he was hiding under. He tried to roll as he fell, attempting to shoot at Olsen, but was tackled by Harley. Despite the pain, he managed to power through and throw the clown themed bitch off of him. He then attempted to retrieve his gun only for it to suddenly be picked up by...his eyes widened in horror.

 _No, fucking way...I killed you!_

DeYorke shook his head as he stared down at Phillips. "You know," he said as he reached up and grabbed the bullet that was in the process of being pushed out of his head. "That was a very good idea, taking me and Jean out first, but you apparently missed the bulletin about the whole regenerating thing." He then glanced over at Jimmy. "By the way, clever thinking of hiding in ambush."

"Dude, Nygma told me to check the network connections."

DeYorke rolled his eyes. "Just go with it, kid. Besides, I'm surprised you actually shot him."

"It's a kneecap, I wasn't trying to kill him," Jimmy said as he got up. Then his eyes widened in horror and his face paled as he realized what he had just done. "Oh god...I just shot a guy," he said, his face starting to turn a little green.

DeYorke shrugged. "Meh, don't worry, you'll grow into it."

"Aw, man, I think I'm gonna' be sick." Jimmy said as he tried to make his way to a nearby wastebasket. Unfortunately, he didn't make it in time and ended up throwing on the wounded Phillips.

Before Phillips could protest, DeYorke pulled out a pistol, pointed it at his forehead, pulled the trigger, and Phillips knew no more.

"Dammit, Nick, was that really necessary?" Jean asked as he stumbled back to his feet.

Nick brought the pistol next to his own face, the barrel resting against his right cheek, a thoughtful look on his face. "Hmm, let's see...this guy and his friends are trying to kill us, so yeah, we kill him."

"We could have interrogated him."

"Yeah, but we don't have the time," Nick half whined. "I mean, I want to go medieval on these guys too, but we are kind of in a rush." Then he paused as he glanced down and noticed something in the right ear of the man he just shot. "Wait, hold on a sec." He knelt down and pulled the small item out of the dead man's ear and smiled. "Well, Jean, look what we have here; a genuine mini-communications earpiece. I wonder if it's two way."

"Only one way to find out," Jean said while Nygma sat down behind a computer terminal and began furiously tapping away on the keyboard. "Eddie, what are you doing?"

"Tapping into the communication lines for the facility to see what's going on and see if Joker is doing his usual 'taunt the law enforcement' thing he usually does."

"Good idea," Nick said as he studied the earpiece. "See if you can break into them, it will be fun to fuck with everybody later on." He put the earpiece in his own ear and tapped it lightly. "Hellllllooooo, anyone home?" he asked.

There was no answer, but Nick suspected someone was on the other end quietly listening.

"Okay," he said, "I don't know who you are, but I know that you're probably sitting in whatever little cubicle you government types like to do and jacking off to all the excitement. After all, that's what you little bitches do, right?" He paused for a moment while Jean, Nygma, and Harley snickered at his antics. Even Jimmy was trying to not crack a smile and failing miserably before he resumed throwing up.

"Fine," Nick huffed. "Don't say anything, but I want you to listen carefully. We killed most of the guys you sent after us and we'll probably kill the rest of your team when we find them. However, you're on the back burner for now. After we deal with the fucking clown and his little band of pussies, we're going to be looking for you. And when we find you, we're going to kill you and everyone linked to you because...well, that's what we're good at and you really fucked up our weekend off."

There was silence for a few seconds. Then a soft chuckle came from the other end of the line. "Oh, I highly doubt that, son. In fact, I know that you'll be dead in less than an hour."

Nick arched an eyebrow. "Really? Let me guess...you have a 'scorched earth' contingency plan, don't you?" Then he rolled his eyes in annoyance. "Wow, how original. I take it that you don't care for the collateral damage, do you?"

"When dealing with a threat to this nation's security, it is acceptable. And you two are definitely a threat to this nation and the world."

"That's funny, given the fact that you assholes sent people to OUR world and they started shooting the place up. Are you so fucking arrogant that you didn't think that something would go wrong and you might piss the wrong people off?"

"You're just two men, Mr. DeYorke. We are the United States Government, we-"

"We are the big bad dangerous people with a bunch of resources at our disposal, we will fuck you up, eat you up, and spit you out...blah...blah...blah," Nick interrupted. "Yeah, like we give a shit. First, you're not OUR US government. They know better than to taunt people like us. Second, you really have no clue who we are and what we can do. Now, I don't know who you are, but you sound like some armchair military type. Probably a General and not a really good one if you're working for the more shadier side of the government. You probably have to kiss the fat ass of some bureaucrat that you answer to, right?"

"Watch it, boy," the man on the other end snapped. "You have no-"

Nick cut the man off again by yanking out the earpiece and tossing it on a nearby table. "Now that was a useless conversation." Then he paused and rubbed his throat before speaking again, this time a perfect imitation of the voice he was talking to. "On the other hand, I picked up a new voice."

"Holy shit!" Jiimmy gasped, looking up from the wastebasket he was vomiting into. "Is that the guy you were talking to?"

"Yeah...er, hold on." Nick cleared his throat and started speaking in his normal voice. "Yeah, why? You recognize it?"

"That's General Wade Eiling," Jimmy said. "He's usually the military stooge who does press conferences when it comes to lying about military operations." Once again, his face started to pale at the realization that they now had a military general targeting them. "Aw, man, here comes round two." He then returned to vomiting in the wastebasket.

"So now we know the US military, or at least part of it, is involved," mused Jean. "This Eiling must be their equivalent of Eddicott from our world."

Nick shook his head. "Um, no. Eddicott may be an ass, but he's not as clueless as this Eiling idiot. If Eiling was anywhere near Eddicott's level, he would still be gathering intel and preparing a viable attack on us. Eddicott knows us, that's what makes him dangerous and a damn good general. This Eiling is a joke."

Jimmy looked up from his wastebasket. "If Eiling's involved, then this is bad. He launched a kryptonite laced missile at a tropical island going through massive volcanic eruptions just to deal with Doomsday."

"What the hell was Doomsday doing on an erupting volcanic island?" Jean asked.

"Because Superman was there with various members of the Justice League." Jimmy set the waste basket down and pulled himself into a chair. "San Baquero was also a key hub in the international drug trade. Eiling probably figured he could take out a few birds with one stone."

"Okay, so what happened?"

"The League stopped Doomsday, somehow re-directed the missile, and managed to evacuate the island before the volcano erupted and effectively destroyed the island, which was pretty much wiped away by the mega tsunami generated by the warhead when it detonated in the sea," Jimmy replied.

"So Doomsday didn't kill Superman?"

"Um, no," Jimmy said, wondering what Nick was getting at with his question. "From what I understand, they imprisoned him in the Phantom Zone. Why?"

Nick and Jean shared a curious look for a moment.

"Another point where reality diverges from fiction," Nick said.

Jean nodded in agreement. "Pretty much."

"Wait, hold on," Jimmy said. "What do you mean reality diverging from fiction? I thought you two said you were from alternate Earth."

"Oh, we are, Jimmy," Nick assured the young man as he walked over to the terminal Nygma was working at. "You just happen to be works of fiction in our world."

"What!?"

Harley leaned over and put a hand on Jimmy's shoulder. "Just let it go, Olsen...the more you think about it, it will blow your mind and you might actually end up locked up in a place like this."

"End up in a place like this? Newsflash, lady, I'm trapped here with you, Riddler, and two crazy bastards who act like they're in the middle of an amusement park ride!"

"Well, to be fair, it is an insane asylum currently being run by a deranged clown."

"Harley, you are a deranged clown!"

Nick just shook his head and turned his attention to Nygma, who seemed to be grinning like a madman (which wasn't a surprise since this was Arkham). "Okay, Ed, wanna' tell me why you have an evil smile on your face?"

"How about I just show you?" Nygma replied, answering a question with a question while he brought up another window on the screen.

"Wait, is that what I think it is?" Nick asked in disbelief.

"Oh yes indeed, my friend," Nygma chuckled.

"What did you find, Nick?" Jean asked.

Instead of answering, Nygma just pressed a key and one of the walls slid open to reveal a small room and its contents.

"Well, I'll be damned," Harley muttered as she entered the room and started to pick up some items. "Guys, we got at least a half-dozen tac-vests, tactical headsets, some guns, stun batons, grenades." She paused and looked up at the ceiling. "Someone up there likes us."

"In your case, I think you're looking the wrong direction," Jimmy quipped.

Harley responded by giving the reporter the finger.

"I just don't get why some idiot would put a small armory in the middle of an insane asylum," Jean said as he and Nick joined Harley in the small armory.

"Dude, it's fucking Arkham, they're all insane," Nick fired back.

"Okay, you gotta' point there."

"So, what's the plan now?" asked Nygma. "Shooting our way out just got easier."

"Yeah, but we still need to take out the clown and cause a lot of confusion while we do it." Jean started tossing tactical headsets to everyone. Then he paused, his face breaking into an evil grin. "Eddie, does Tate's phone have music files on it?"

Nygma checked the deceased Arkham Director's phone. "Um, yes, quite a bit...damn...a lot of stuff from the 70s and 80s though." He tossed the phone to Jean who caught it and started going through the music collection.

"Damn," Jean said as he scrolled through the list. "This is scary, disco, new wave, punk, classic rock, and country."

Nick looked over his friend's shoulder. "Jean, you're not thinking of doing a 'Luxemburg', are you?"

Jean scoffed at him. "Oh, c'mon, don't act like you didn't have fun doing that."

"True, but I doubt we can jack into Youtube or ViaView and do a mock music video."

"Whoa, wait, what are you two talking about?" Harley asked, intrigued at the strange idea she was getting from overhearing the two talk.

Nick smiled at her. "When we dealt with this arms dealer, we crashed his mansion and sort of did a live streaming broadcast of it while singing along to 'Rock the Casbah' by the Clash as we took the guy's goon's down. It was pretty cool, but I doubt we could pull it off here."

"Well, I could link us to the closed circuit security feed and also relay it to one of the Gotham public access channels," Nygma called out from his workstation.

"Seriously?" Nick asked.

"Very," Nygma replied. "But I'm not a Clash fan, so I only request you use another song."

"He's right, Jean," Nick admitted. "We really can't repeat ourselves."

"Can I be in on this?" Harley asked. "I really do have some things to say to Mistah J."

Jean and Nick glanced at each other briefly as they contemplated her request for a moment before nodding; then Nick suddenly started laughing when a cruel idea hit him.

"Nick, what's so funny?" Jean wasn't liking the way his best friend's facial expression seemed to get more sinister as his grin got bigger. "And why is the hair on the back of my neck standing on end?"

Nick just kept grinning as he took the phone from Jean and started scrolling through the list of songs. "Oh shit, they do have it on this world too!" he exclaimed.

"What are you..." Jean's voice trailed off when Nick showed him the selected song. Then his eyes widened in horror. "No," he snapped vehemently, "absolutely not!"

"But you got to choose the Luxemburg song, so it's my turn!" Nick whined.

"No...uh-uh...no way, never, no way in hell!"

Nick sighed and slumped his shoulders in defeat. "Okay, you're right," he said. "So I guess I'll just tell everyone about Cirque du-"

"No! I take it back...we can use that song," Jean said quickly.

"You sure?" Nick asked.

Jean paused for a moment, mentally debating his options before nodding and letting out a resigned sigh. "Yeah...but payback is coming."

"Cool," Nick said as he tossed the phone back to Nygma. "Eddie, we have our musical number, transfer it over and get ready to make the magic happen."

Nygma looked at the selection that Nick had made, then started laughing maniacally as he linked the phone to his terminal. "Wow, you two really might be insane enough to be locked up here if you're using THAT song."

* * *

 ** _Back outside Arkham with Captain "Idiot" Shaw, Detective Bullock, and the rest of Gotham's Finest..._**

Back at the makeshift SCU command center outside of Arkham's walls, Velez had put the Joker's latest call on the speaker phone. This time around, the Joker was starting to make serious threats.

"It's very simple, Mr. Shaw," the clown prince of crime said casually as if he were discussing the weather. "You arrange to have two hundred pizzas delivered in the next hour and half or I start killing some of the staff we're holding hostage."

And that was when it got weird. Before Shaw could reply, the Joker's voice cut him off.

"Oh, and when Batsy gets here, make sure he's wearing the thong he wears underneath his suit."

 _Wait,_ Bullock thought to himself, _what the hell?_

What was more surprising was what the Joker said next.

"Wait, what, who said that?" Joker demanded.

"Why, that was me of course," Joker's voice replied...or at least someone who sounded like him.

"Who the hell do you think you are!?" Joker yelled.

"Why, I'm you, of course, or is that me? Oh wait...no matter. Anyway, I hope Batsy shows up soon, this clown can only do so much when playing with himself."

Bullock couldn't believe what he was hearing. Either the Joker was going schizophrenic or...then he remembered the person he had talked to earlier on his cellphone. Could this be DeYorke or Renard impersonating the Joker?

"That's why I'm here," rasped the voice of the Dark Knight. "I'm gonna' take you down by making you go down." There was a pause and some snickering could be heard in the background.

Oh yeah, Bullock was now certain that this was Renard and DeYorke.

"Oh Batsy, you're here...take me down...do me like a Robin!"

"WHAT THE FUCK!?" This was screamed by the real Joker.

Bullock glanced around and noticed that half the officer's at the command center were trying to stifle smiles and even Montoya's mouth twitched slightly.

"I'm the Batman, bitch!" growled the Dark Knight's voice. "Now submit, my pasty white gimp!"

"Yes, mastah," the Joker's voice said in reply. "Please allow me to taste your sweet nec-"

"YOU BASTARDS ARE DEAD! YOU HEAR ME!?"

Suddenly there was a loud squeal of audio feedback that caused everyone in the command center to wince as the connection to the Joker was cut off followed by dead silence.

"What the hell was that?" asked Shaw. "Velez, what happened?"

"Not sure, sir," the com-specialist replied as he tapped away on his keyboard and looked at his screen. "It looks like someone from inside just cut into the Joker's line. Whoever they are, they just took over the com-system and it looks like they took over the cameras too. They've not only cut us off, they cut off the Joker too."

Shaw then looked over at Bullock. "Do you know anything about this?"

Bullock shook his head and gave the man a vindictive smile. "No, because I'm just a clueless detective and not an expert in this kind of situation like you are," he replied.

"It's that person you were talking to on the phone, wasn't it?" Shaw demanded.

Bullock shrugged. "Doesn't really matter," he said. "But if it is those two, you may want to pull your people back. Those two took out a cafeteria filled with some of Arkham's most violent offenders and put a few of them in the morgue. Now they're out, obviously armed, and they're going after the Joker. And with no way of gathering intel, you might be walking your boys into a crossfire."

"Don't tell me how to do my job, _Detective_ Bullock-"

"Sir," Velez interrupted, "we got audio and visual from the camera feed."

Everyone's attention returned to one of the monitor screens that now displayed three people that Bullock recognized as Harley Quinn, Renard, and Deyorke who was leading them. They were now armed with weapons, but it looked like they were...dancing down the corridor?

"Um...are they making an S with their arms?" Velez asked.

Then the music started to play.

" **S-S-S-S, A-A-A-A, F-F-F-F, E-E-E-E, T-T-T-T, Y-Y-Y-Y...** "

* * *

 ** _Author's Note:_** Yes, we're going **_THERE_**...blame the painkillers, antibiotics, and caffeine I've been on along with the long work hours.

Next Chaper: The craziness at Arkham hits a fever pitch (and there might be some dancing, decapitations, and other insanity). Also, we'll catch up with the Watchtower and some rumblings at CADMUS headquarters as David and Ace make their move.


	25. Meanwhile, back at the Watchtower

Disclaimer: Don't own JLU, all those characters are owned by DC/Warner Brothers. Don't own Aberrant, that's owned by Onyx Publishing. The Incredibles are owned by Pixar/Disney (and Brad Bird would have my head on a pike for what I've done with his creation).

Author's Notes: First off, not much in this chapter. I know I promised more on Bomber, Slapstick, and David, but the Watchtower scene got a little more involved. As usual, this chapter was not beta read, so there might be more than a few errors which I will correct as a catch them when I re-read the chapter. Also, yes, I did copy the conversation from an episode of JLU between Question and Superman...and believe me, having to replay the damn episode segment over a dozen times to get the dialogue was a pain in the ass.

* * *

 **Watchtower**

 **Somewhere in Earth Orbit**

As Superman watched a couple medical personnel attend to Lex Luthor in the Watchtower's medical center, several thoughts went through his mind all at once. He had always known, and dreaded, there would be a day when things would come to a head between him and Lex. He dreaded it even more after the encounter with the Justice Lords where he learned his counterpart had murdered Lex on that other Earth before assuming control of the planet with his fellow League members. He swore to himself that he would never let that happen even as events on this world began to parallel events from that other one where Lex Luthor was running for President. It also didn't help that the Question learned of the events on that other world and confronted him about it in the main conference room. The memory of that conversation was still fresh as he kept replaying it in his mind.

 _ **"Always wondered what was in here. Private conference room. Original members only, yes? A place where you're free to discuss your secrets and lies..."**_

 _ **"You said something about me in the White House."**_

 _ **"Not you, exactly. Another version of you, hmm?"**_

" _ **Quit dancing around it. How much do you know?"**_

" _ **I know what you told everyone. The Justice Lords: a parallel universe version of the Justice League who came to Earth to rid it of crime just as they had on their own world. With Lex Luthor's help, our Justice League managed to rout them. I also know what you didn't tell anyone! On that other Earth, so very much like our own, a Superman, so very much like you, killed the president."**_

 _ **"Question, no one can know about this."**_

 _ **"Or what? You'd incinerate me, too?"**_

" _ **I'd never do anything like that."**_

 _ **"Wouldn't you? Didn't you recently try to lobotomize Doomsday with your heat vision, just as the Justice Lord did?"**_

" _ **That's different!"**_

" _ **It's the same! A heavily-armed Watchtower with an army of proactive heroes, Luthor running for president. If it's not *quite* the same, it soon will be. Have you seen Amanda Waller's computer simulations?"**_

 _ **"Batman told me about them."**_

 _ **"Did he tell you that all the models predicted that a war between the Justice League and the government would devastate the planet?"**_

" _ **We would never fight the government!"**_

 _ **"Not even if Luthor *was* the government? Predestined... Flash will die... You will kill Luthor...Superhuman arms race... Armageddon... Inevitable…"**_

Though Superman didn't use his x-ray vision, he could easily see the fear on Question's face despite being fully masked, especially when the man backed away from him out of the conference room. He had meant to talk to the man later in hope of smoothing things out, but Question had immediately left the Watchtower and disabled his communicator so he couldn't be tracked.

Then the dimensional breaches occurred. Again, they were visitors from _another_ Earth, where the Justice League didn't exist, but were fictional characters. It almost seemed laughable except for the fact that Green Lantern, J'onn, Shayera, and Wally had ended up in similar encounter which didn't end well. In that situation, they ended up on a fictional Earth based on a comic that John Stewart read during his childhood.

 _There are some parallels here, but Zoe Kilmarten and those two men in Arkham see us as a joke. And supposedly Robertson is from their world as well, but ended up in ours seventy years ago...this is insane!_

In a way, he was almost thankful for this latest turn of events because it distracted him from his conversation with the Question and his fear of possibly going down the road his Justice Lord counterpart had gone. He was still concerned about it and had planned to talk to Question once he found him and was hoping they could find a way to prevent having what Question referred to as "a weenie roast at the White House".

But all that changed when Question contacted the Watchtower, requesting an emergency beam-out. What was more surprising was Question carrying Luthor into Medbay demanding medical attention for the man. When asked what happened, Question shook his head and said, "Everything is changed, and it's going to get worse if we can't save him."

For the next couple hours, Superman watched a couple doctors work on Luthor, treating him for a bizarre bleeding that seemed to ooze from all over his body. At one point Question had ordered someone to take a sample and have it analyzed. Now it appeared that Luthor's condition had stabilized though arrangements were being made to get a neurosurgeon on board as soon as possible.

"So what happened exactly?" Superman asked while he watched a medtech monitoring a comatose Lex Luthor's vitals and making occasional adjustments to the equipment.

"I'm not sure," the Question replied. "There was an explosion before I could reach his office and I found him lying unconscious on the ground."

"What were you doing there in the first place?"

For a moment, Question didn't answer. Then he sighed and turned to face Superman. "Honestly, to kill Luthor before you did. After all, I'm just a crackpot…better me than you going down that dark road your counterpart went on. But I guess it's all a moot point now, isn't it?"

"So if you didn't attack him, who did?"

"I don't know, but Luthor gave me a name when he briefly regained consciousness...Case Black."

"Case Black? Who, or what, is that?"

"I don't know, perhaps a new player to the game...or maybe one that's been around and has finally stepped out to make their presence known." The Question paused for a moment to glance at Luthor. "On thing is certain, whoever this Case Black is, it had Luthor scared."

Before Superman could say anything else, another Watchtower staffer walked up to Question and handed him a small vial with a grayish-brown liquid and a datapad. After reading the report on the data pad, Question handed it back to the staffer. "This is accurate?"

"I'm afraid so," the young woman replied, a grim expression on her face. "That stuff has been oozing out of his pores like sweat. Some of it's even coming out of his tear ducts and nose." She then handed the datapad to Superman before he could ask what they were talking about.

The Man of Steel quickly scrolled through the report, recognizing some of the alien proteins and compounds mentioned, causing his eyes to widen in horror. "No, it can't be," he said, his voice barely more than a horrified whisper.

"It is, Superman," the Question said before turning to staffer. "Thank you, Naomi." He then looked back at Superman and handed him the vial. "It looks like the Brainiac entity is...no, correction...WAS controlling Lex Luthor in some way. Apparently, it pissed someone off because that's what's left of Brainiac."

Superman held the vial in his hand and briefly used his x-ray vision on it. _I can't believe this,_ he thought. _The various nano-synthetic strands are shredded and rapidly decomposing...if this keeps up, all we're going to have is a very salty water sample with rust in it._

"I am aware that my actions may get me tossed out of the League, Superman, but I'm not going to attempt justifying my actions to you," Question said. "At this point, we have a more serious situation. This Case Black, whoever or whatever they are, took Luthor and Brainiac down as an opening act and I'm more concerned about what they will do for an encore."

Superman handed the vial back to Question. "Oh, we'll be discussing that, but believe me when I say your actions pale in comparison to what was done by others."

The faceless hero nodded in understanding. "Yes, I never suspected Stewart capable of being that rash, but I can't say that I blame him given what limited intel he has on Mr. Robertson."

Superman gave the other man a curious look. "And what do you know about Robertson?"

Though he wore a faceless mask, the smirk on his face could be heard in Question's voice. "Quite a bit, actually. Adopted son of Steve Trevor back in '47, is apparently a metahuman of some sort since he looks like he's in his twenties instead of his seventies, and founding member of the Challengers...stayed with them until 'retiring' in the late eighties."

"How the hell do you know all this?"

Question shrugged. "Who do you think has helped me research The Conspiracy, Superman? Did you really think the Justice League is the only group that sees people like Waller and CADMUS as a threat?"

Instead of answering right away, Superman turned and started to leave only to pause and look over his shoulder. "I have a meeting with the others and our guests, but we WILL discuss your actions later."

"If you say so," Question said as he looked back at Luthor. "But forgive me if I feel that I have other things to worry about."

Superman was about to say something in response, but noted that Question seemed afraid, only this time it wasn't of him. As he started to walk away, he heard Question say something under his breath that made the Man of Steel's blood run cold for some reason.

"I just hope we're lucky enough to survive this so you can kick me out."

* * *

 **Conference Room**

 **Watchtower**

Jay Robertson (formerly known as Jack Parr) sat quietly next to Zoe at the conference table and tried not to glare at the rest of the individuals sitting there. Zoe, for her part, just leaned back in her chair and sipped her mocha shake while showing a mostly lack of interest while Green Lantern John Stewart explained the actions he had taken and why he felt that Jay was a threat. Jay could have easily left the station with Zoe, but he knew the League would probably send people out to "retrieve" them and that would result in another ugly confrontation and that was the last thing he or the Justice League wanted.

 _Though I can't be sure about the Lanterns and the winged bitch,_ Jay thought to himself. He then gave himself a mental slap to the back of the head because he knew Steve wouldn't have approved of that statement. On the other hand, Steve would understand Jay's hatred for Thanagarians because of what happened in Challengerville during their occupation of Earth but he would also disapprove of Jay's simmering hatred. He glanced over at Zoe who seemed to be dying of boredom and looked like she wanted to be anywhere but here dealing with what she dubbed the "spandex and underoo glee club of egotistical misfits".

 _Wish I was that young and carefree,_ he thought, _but those days are decades gone._

Zoe, while not really interested in the meeting, was trying not to think of ways to kill an egotistical jerk with a ring and his mace wielding bitch of an ex-girlfriend. She tried not to smile as she imagined shoving a vibrating hand into the base of Shayera's wings and ripping them out of her body. Sadly, that was not on option and she and Jay were forced to sit in this boring conference room that looked like a set out of some conspiracy/spy movie and endure the tirade and ranting of the uptight prick wearing a green and black uniform.

However, while she was able to not smile at her imaginary dismemberment of Shayera Hol, she failed to stifle the yawn that escaped her mouth which caused Green Lantern to stop and glare at her.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Miss Kilmarten, am I boring you?" John Stewart asked menacingly as he tried to make yet another pathetic attempt to intimidate the young woman.

Zoe took another sip of her drink before answering. "Yeah, pretty much. I'd also like to point out how annoying you are and that you still act like an egotistical prick with a chip on his shoulder." Then she gave him on an evil smile. "On the other hand, you do remind me of a certain douche bag back home, by the name of Caestus Pax. Although I'm starting to think you got him beat in the 'pompous asshole' category."

Jay couldn't help smirking at Zoe's comments and the reactions they were getting from the other members of the League. Superman and Batman looked annoyed, Flash let out a resigned sigh and did a facepalm. Martian Manhunter arched an eyebrow (more like an eyeridge since he didn't have eyebrows), Diana kept a neutral expression (though the corners of her mouth twitched a little), Shayera growled and gripped her mace that was lying on the table in front of her, and Stewart looked like he was about to burst a couple blood vessels.

Before Stewart could respond, Jay spoke up.

"Look, I've been here on this Earth longer than most of you have been alive," he said. "I didn't go crazy with my power then and I don't intend to now."

"But you never stepped forward when we could have used you," Stewart countered. "How many people died because you decided lay low and hide during the attacks by Darkseid, Brainiac, or the Imperium?"

Jay's eyes momentarily glowed a faint blue as he glared that the Green Lantern, but they quickly returned to normal as he spoke. "Just because I wasn't with you it doesn't mean I just sat by and did nothing Stewart. In fact, there were other superhumans out there that did their part during those events. Some of them died and you never knew about them...though certain government agencies did take their remains. You may be the so called 'big heroes' on this world, but there were many independent ones." He paused for a moment to let that sink in before he delivered his next little bombshell. "After all, where do you think CADMUS got the genetic material to create the Ultimen? Their scientists may be good, but even they needed some source material to work from."

Before Stewart could respond, Superman cleared his throat. "Gentlemen, we're getting off track here. We can discuss that later." He then focused on Stewart. "While I agree that Jay could pose a possible danger, I don't agree with the fact that you went behind our back and brought a group of Green Lanterns to detain him."

"We needed the back up in case he went rogue on us," Stewart said, pointing in Jay's direction. "We know how powerful he and the others could be. They are a risk-"

"Wow, talk about us like we're not here," Zoe grumbled.

Stewart turned to glare at Zoe. "And you, young lady, are the worst of them all. You're-"

"Young, opinionated, inexperienced, uninformed, untrained, undisciplined, blah, blah, blah," Zoe interrupted. "And you're still an asshole, so fuck off."

"Zoe, that's enough," Jay said, shaking his head slightly when she looked at him. "This is not the time or place to deal with Stewart." He then turned his attention to the others at the table. "Superman...Clark, yeah, I know who all of you are and I don't want a fight with you people. I've lived quietly under the radar for the last six decades and, at the risk of sounding a little arrogant, I was doing the hero thing before MOST of you were born and retired before a good number of you went active. All I'm asking is that you guys give me and Zoe the benefit of a doubt."

"And why should we?" Shayera asked. "The first thing Kilmarten did was commit robbery and assault various people on our world."

"Yeah, it's called 'procuring resources after being dumped in an unknown environment'," Zoe countered. "As for the assaults, do you really want to go that route? I mean, the people I assaulted were bank robbers, muggers, and other criminals. All I did was help myself to their wallets, I didn't take what they were stealing. It's not like I betrayed my friends and had them locked up or anything."

"You're not helping, Zoe," Jack said, focusing on Shayera. "As for you, Shayera Hol, I don't think you should be in a rush to make snap judgments given your recent history. But I'm willing to give you the benefit of a doubt just like your fellow League members are. All I ask is the same."

"And why should I believe that?" Shayera asked.

Jack's eyes glowed again for a moment before fading out. "Because I'm resisting the impulse to flash fry you," he replied. "Look, we all know that I can simply take Zoe and leave. But if I do that, some of you will put up a fight to stop me, it will rapidly get out of control, someone is going to do something stupid and turn it into an all-out war which will result in this station getting severely damaged or destroyed. And Stewart, don't even think of opening that mouth and start saying this justifies you labeling me a threat and trying to have your little band of men in tights come after me. I didn't start this mess; but if it goes down that road, it will end badly for everyone and I don't want that." He then looked back at the rest of the members of the League. "Do you?"

Silence filled the room for several seconds before Superman answered. "No," he said. "But I'll be honest with you, Jay. You're very powerful and CADMUS is hunting you. They won't stop coming after you and you risk turning the world into a warzone. All I'm asking is that you stick with us for a little bit until we find a way to get you home. If we can't do that in a couple months, we'll find some other place to relocate you or at least make it so CADMUS won't come after you."

Jay thought about it for a moment, then nodded. "Fine, we'll agree to that."

"Whoa, wait, we will?" Zoe asked in surprise.

"But only if we're allowed to go planet side with members of the League we can trust."

After taking a couple seconds to think about it, Superman nodded in agreement. "I take it you're referring to Flash and Supergirl."

"Yeah, though I wouldn't object to Diana or Manhunter either." Jay then looked over at Batman. "No offense, Bruce, but you and Clark don't have time to babysit us. Clark is too high profile as it is, both as Superman and at his civilian job and I won't even get into how messed up your life is."

"Then it's settled," said Superman, cutting off Batman before he could reply. "Jay and Zoe will stay here, but will be authorized to head planet side accompanied by other members of the League." He then glared in the direction of Stewart and Shayera. "Are we all in agreement?"

After a couple seconds of hesitation, both Shayera and Stewart nodded their heads.

"Fine, but if they go rogue, I'm taking them down," growled Stewart.

"Bite me, Space Shaft," Zoe snapped. "Does that mean we're free to go?"

"Yes." Batman then rose out of his chair. "But keep in mind you will be monitored for-" He paused for a moment and tapped the side of his cowl, activating his built in communicator. "Yes, Oracle, what is it?"

"Batman, we got a situation at Arkham. Someone orchestrated a riot and Joker's taken over the Asylum, but...there's something going on over there. Someone at the asylum has managed to hack one of Gotham's public access channels, but it's not the Joker."

Batman nodded his head slightly. "Oracle, brief Nightwing and the others on the situation but to stand by until I get back down there. Batman out." He then tapped a couple keys on the holographic keyboard that appeared at his position on the table. Another holographic image materialized into existence over the table to display live feed from a particular public access channel.

"Bruce, what's going on?" Superman asked as the image cleared up to provide high definition feed of two men and one woman beating the hell out of several Arkham inmates while singing and dancing along to…

"Oh god," Flash muttered, "please tell me they're not singing 'The Safety Dance'."


	26. CADMUS Burning I

Disclaimer: Aberrant, owned by White Wolf/Onyx Publishing. Justice League Unlimited, owned by DC comics.

Author's Notes: Okay, wanted to make this at least five thousand words, but I've got a busy weekend coming up, so I decided to make this a two parter. I hope to put up the other part before or around the 4th of July. As usual, this is Un-Betad...so there are probably errors and I'll try to correct them when I catch them on the next read-through. Also, just to warn you, David's dark side is going to show up and, I'll be honest with some of you who are reading this, but are not familiar with David: He is NOT a hero, so don't be surprised with some of the shit he does in this chapter.

* * *

Deep within his own mind, the mental avatar of David Pine Flynn stood in the dimly lit room staring where he had last seen the fragment of the Case Black algorithm before it de-rezzed itself. He found himself unable to summon it, but he could sense its smugness even as it knew that its own destruction was insured.

" _ **At least we both go together. And the bonus is that we take the entire facility and the city of Santa Fe with us. I told ya it would be fuckin' biblical, right?"**_

David ignored the taunts from his counterpart. Instead, he just cut the entity off. Apparently, it decided that it no longer needed to be concerned about self-preservation since it had uploaded a copy of itself to a remote server while David was focusing on learning all of CADMUS' secrets. Unfortunately, there was nothing he could do about Case Black until he got free. As for hacking CADMUS' entire network, it was pretty easy; in fact it was easier than what he had done to Aeon when they had captured and tortured him in Redfield.

 _But Utopia knew I was a danger from the beginning and I doubt they would have fallen for my "failed escape attempt",_ David thought to himself. He could have escaped the first time, but CADMUS would still be able to come after him and he wanted to make sure he had crippled the organization before he and Ace escaped.

 _But thanks to them "appropriating" my gauntlets and their desire to rip through my mind to learn my secrets, I pretty much got what I wanted._

However, he had to be honest. If Ace hadn't helped him, it would have been far different and the machine they had him jacked into probably could have done some serious damage to him.

 _Ace...Ali…_

The image of the little dark haired girl in a black and white jumpsuit and the sad expression on her face haunted him. He knew that others, when they saw Ace, saw only a military asset, a creature that had to be broken, controlled, and then locked up when not needed. David could relate to that because he knew that's how some on his Earth felt about him and that he could have easily ended up in a situation similar to hers.

 _And then there were those at Redfield who did end up like that…and I couldn't help them._

"There was nothing you could do." he heard a soft voice say.

He turned to see Ace step out of the shadows and nodded. "Yeah, I know. Only one of them made it out with me."

"But you still blame yourself anyway, you shouldn't."

"I don't."

Ace smirked at him. "Liar."

David let out a tired sigh. "Yeah, you're right. I still blame myself, but I will NOT let that happen again as long as I can do something about it." Then he rolled his eyes. "And yes, I do realize that sounds pretty damn corny."

The girl shook her head. "No, it isn't corny. It's the voice of someone truly speaking their mind. Don't forget, David, I've been through your mind, I know you...and you aren't afraid of me."

David knelt down, so he could talk to the girl at eye level. "No, and I never will be," he said. "You're not a monster, Allison. I've dealt with monsters who don't have your powers and they scare me more than you ever could." He reached up and gently lifted her chin so she could look directly in his eyes. "And will take you away from here, I promise you."

"So it's time then?"

"Yes, you know what to do and where to go."

"But what about your friends, those two men in Arkham and Zoe?" Ace asked.

"I'll come back for them, but first, we need to make sure CADMUS is not a threat to my world and I want to get you away from here." David paused when he noticed Ace's lips trembling slightly. "What is it?"

"Your friends...I've seen glimpses of them in your mind...will they..."

The girl hesitated, seemingly fearful of continuing.

"Will they what, Allison?"

"Will they accept me?"

David gave her an assuring smile. "Kid, as far as I'm concerned, you're one of us and we never turn on our own." He then gave her small hug the way an older sibling or parent would hug a child. "Now go on...do what we planned and I'll deal with the ugly part."

He waited until the girl faded back into the shadows, then his smile faded a little, the warmth being replaced by something more sinister.

"And now," he announced to the darkness, "it's time to wake up."

* * *

 _ **CADMUS PSI-OPS Lab**_

 _ **Project CADMUS Headquarters**_

 _ **Santa Fe, New Mexico**_

Doctor Moon frowned slightly as he looked at the readings displayed on the main screen of his terminal that was currently monitoring the prisoner's brain activity. Over the last week, he got a variety of readings as he he used the psi-probe (hey, it was lamely named, but it worked) to tear secrets from the young man. In addition to all that new data and possible scientific breakthroughs, Moon got to enjoy making the little shit scream in agony and was sometimes joined by the Supergirl clone who seemed to enjoy watching him work.

But now...now something just didn't seem right. As usual, the boy seemed to lapse into some sort of comatose state after each session, but this time around it seemed different. As before, there was some brain activity that Moon had determined was the boy's subconsciously trying to recover from the agony he had been through, especially after the sessions they had brought Ace in to telepathically "smack the fucker down" (Galatea's words, but Moon liked the analogy).

 _But this time,_ Moon thought to himself, _it's more like a state of REM sleep but he doesn't seem to be reacting violently like he normally does. And the brain activity seems more fluid, more organized...as if...no...it can't be._

Then a small alarm went off on the screen, a red cursor flashing in warning as the brain activity started to increase, informing him of something that shouldn't be happening.

 _He can't be waking up, afte the last sessions and Ace's latest visit a half-hour ago, he should barely be more than a vegetable!_

Moon frantically tapped several commands into a keyboard, instructing the automated medical equipment to shoot another round of high powered sedatives into the boy. He then sighed in relief as the screen displayed compliance with the command and he could hear the faint whirring of the machinery as they powered up to deliver enough sedatives to kill a normal adult.

 _Won't kill him, but it means not pumping him for more information until we can make sure he is secured before we resume. Then again, if he dies, I would love to assist the autopsy._

Then the screen suddenly went dark, the medical equipment suddenly went into stand-by mode, and the lights in the room dimmed slightly.

 _What the hell?_

Moon tapped again on the keyboard to bring the main monitor back on line, and that was when he noticed the other monitors had gone dark as well. Then a blinking cursor suddenly appeared on all the screens for a moment, the main one particularly catching his attention, causing him to turn his back on the prisoner.

Then the words flashed across the screen:

HELLO, DOCTOR MOON. DO YOU REMEMBER WHAT I SAID TO YOU THE LAST TIME WE SPOKE?

Cold fear suddenly shot down the doctor's spine and he barely heard the sound of machinery disengaging as he frantically hit the button to the intercom.

"Security Beach!" He barely managed to scream out the words before he felt something grab him by the neck and lift him out of his chair.

"Sorry, it would appear you've been cut off," David Flynn said before he threw the man into a row of computer banks in the lab, causing sparks and small fires as equipment exploded from the impact. He then looked around the room in an appraising manner as he slowly walked over to where the now bloody scientist was trying to sit up. "And it must really suck since you also had this room soundproofed...so no one's gonna' hear you when I do something like...oh, I dunno...THIS!"

David suddenly stepped forward bringing his foot down hard on the scientist's ankle, breaking it and causing the man to scream.

"No, no, no...you're not doing it right," David said, shaking his head in disapproval. "Diaphragm, buddy, diaphragm...you need it to belt out the tune louder...like this."

He brought his foot down again on the man's other ankle, breaking it as well and causing the man to scream even louder.

"There ya go! Much better."

"Yo-you won't get away with this," Moon managed to whimper.

David resisted the urge to roll his eyes. "Wow, why do people always say stupid things like that?" he asked before kicking the man in the chest and being rewarded with the sound of a faint snap and causing the man to wheeze painfully. "Of course I'm going to get away with it. You see, killing you is going to be easy, but it's going to be hard to decide how. At first, I wanted to snap your neck, but that would be rather merciful...too merciful, don't you think?"

Then David gave Moon a wicked grin as he reached down and picked him up by the front of his shirt. As he did this, the machinery surround the chair to the psi-probe came back on line. "Tell me, Doctor," David mused as he spun around and threw the man into the chair, "what do think about having a dose of your own fucking medicine?"

Before Moon could attempt to move, the restraints locked him down and the machinery closed down around him. "No, don't!" he cried. "It's not set for-AAAAIIIIIEEEEEEEEEE!"

Much to David's disappointment, the screaming only lasted for a few seconds before the sedatives that were shot into the man's body took affect and the psi-probe proceeded to cut into Moon's brain with the precision of a chainsaw trying to trim a rosebush. It was more interesting to monitor Moon's brain activity on the monitor that seemed to explode across the screen like a form of digital fireworks.

"Oooh, Ahhhh, Ohhhhh," David said, acting like a child on the Fourth of July. Then the screen activity showed nothing but flat lines a few seconds later, indicating the brain was no longer functioning. "Aww...now that was disappointing." He then looked at the now drooling vegetable that was sitting in the device that had been his prison for the last few days. "Bet your sex life was just as bad," he quipped before mentally linking himself to other parts of the CADMUS network.

"Okay, I killed you, so I feel a little bit better. Ace is making her way to the breach generator, and I am going to cause a distraction. But first, where are my gauntlets?"

David focused on his gauntlets, then started to chuckle as he realized what the idiots had done to his devices. "You have got to be kidding...seriously? Wow, you guys are really stupid...giving me such a toy to play with. But I promise to have fun with it, okay?"

He paused for a moment as he went through the current priority information pulsing through the CADMUS network. Breaking the various firewalls was easy and, a few seconds later, he was awarded with new information.

"So, Bomber and Slapstick are raising hell in Arkham Asylum and a General Wade Eiling has dispatched a combat drone to firebomb the facility." He shook his head and snickered as he brought up a link to the drone's programming and proceeded to give it new orders. "Destination, Chicago. Target, Winford Hills Memorial Cemetery, plots 471, 472 and 473….engage."

He closed his eyes as he reached out further into the net, linkng to police and cell-phone networks in Gotham. That was when he discovered recorded activity between one Detective Bullock and the cellphone belonging to Arkham Director Nathan Tate. He locked onto that number and mentally dialed it. While it was ringing, he brought up a public access cable channel that was showing the antics of Bomber, Slapstick, and a blond haired woman that CADMUS records identified as Harley Quinn. As the connection rang through, David noticed Slapstick stopping for a moment to pull a cellphone out of his pocket and answer it.

"Thank you for calling, Bomber's Bay, caller. You are on the air with B&S!"

"Really, DeYorke, the Safety Dance? There's a reason the eighties should stay dead."

"Who's this?"

"This is David Pine Flynn, and I'm the primary target these assholes wanted when they hit our world."

There was a pause as Nick almost dropped the phone. "Whoa...wait...for real?"

"Yeah," David replied. "Look, I don't have much time, but I just want you to know that some idiot general sent a drone in your direction. It has been re-routed."

"Well, that's kind of you, if you actually are who you say you are….hold on a second." Nick went silent for a moment to pull out a pistol with his free hand and fire a couple shots into an Arkham inmate that tried to charge him. "Okay, I'm back. Now, how do I know you really are who you say you are?"

"You don't, but if you won't believe me, I'll just tell Pursuer that you're the one who intercepted his specialized dog food order on Amazon and spiked it with cow laxative and that was the reason his prized German Shepherds made a mess at the dog show in London last year."

"Oh shit, it really is you!"

"Yeah, now listen carefully. Once you get out of Arkham, I need you to raise hell around Gotham and keep a certain General Eiling busy. He's currently on his way there to pick up what he thinks will be the pieces. He's not going to like it when he learns his drone has changed targets and I'm sure he's going to try to go all out to take you guys down. I want you to keep him busy for at least a week or two."

"Okay, and why should we do that?"

"Because I'm working on a way to get us all home and it will take that long to set it up. Do we have a deal?"

After a few seconds, Slapstick gave his answer. "We got a deal, but how do you know this Eiling will stay focused on us."

"Oh, that's simple," David said, wishing Slapstick could see his grin. "Just mention that you know about CADMUS and I guarantee that he won't be able to stop focusing on you. I'll be in touch."

He then terminated the connection and then brought up the layout to CADMUS Headquarters. "Now then," he said, his expression darkening as he spoke. "I think it's time I took the gloves off."

* * *

 **Project CADMUS**

 **Director's Office**

Amanda Waller went through the reports she had gotten from the various research heads in Sector 42. Thanks to the around-the-clock schedule, the R&D people were able to link Flynn's gauntlets to the Monarch Armor and actually managed to power it completely. They estimated that it would be ready for testing within a week. But that was just the beginning.

Doctor Moon had managed to rip out terabytes of data and information from the young man's mind, including how to create weapons using this strangely named "quantum technology". Though she didn't like that term, Amanda was pleased with the results.

 _And it's a win we badly needed,_ she thought to herself. _Capturing that boy was a lot of trouble and we're still having issues with the other unwanted guests from his world. First it's that pink haired nuisance hiding with the Justice League and then it's those two morons currently tearing up Akham Asylum._

She had dispatched Eiling to deal with DeYorke and Renard when Wilson's team failed. Eiling decided to authorize a drone strike on the facility and felt it would be easier to pick up the pieces afterward. As much as Amanda didn't like it, she had to agree with a scorched earth tactic. She just hoped that the local authorities would heed Eiling's warning and pull out before the drone arrived. On the other hand, she had to admit it was amusing watching the footage coming from a Public Access Channel in Gotham that showed the two otherworldly visitors tearing apart Arkham's most violent residents and, if the reports were accurate, annoying the hell out of the Joker.

 _It's too bad we couldn't find some way to bring these two to heel. They work well and they managed to take out Grant Wilson and his team. Hmmm...perhaps we can collect-_

Her thoughts were interrupted by the phone in her office going off. She looked down to see that it was coming from Moon's extension and she couldn't help smiling. Ever since he had taken over "interrogating" the prisoner, Moon had done a good job of "looting" the gold mine that was David Flynn's brain.

 _I wonder what significant development he's got today,_ she thought as she answered it. "Yes, Doctor, what have you got got for me?"

There was silence for a moment, then she started to hear solemn organ music playing in the background as an equally solemn voice spoke. "Director Waller, it is my sad duty to inform you that Doctor Moon has passed away due to the violent way in which I dispatched him...which was pretty brutal and I confess that I enjoyed every moment of it."

Waller's smile faded away to fear as she recognized the voice. "Flynn."

"Yep, and don't bother trying to activate the alarms...I've got them on standby for the moment so we could chat. Oh, and before you think about it, I also disabled your back-ups...ALL of them. Hell, I even locked out the little security algorithm that a certain bat-themed person uses to spy on you. I figured we should have a little privacy as we share this little intimate moment. After all, there has to be some form of mutual antagonism between enemies, tight?"

Waller's eyes narrowed in suspicion. "What are you talking about, Flynn?"

"Oh you know it goes," Flynn said, his voice a little too cheerful. "The most bitter of blood feuds usually have a sort of 'duality' where each side has wronged the other in a grievous manner or some bullshit like that. In this case, you attacked my home and killed people I cared about, people I considered family. Some would argue that I retaliated by killing a bunch of your people here at CADMUS, but we both know that you care more about that lunch you just shat out a half hour ago than the people you work with here."

Then Flynn chuckled as the monitor on Waller's desk flickered to life to display an orbital satllite tracking image.

"But this, Amanda, is where I start to even things out between us," Flynn continued. "As you can see, this is the drone that Eiling sent...but it would appear that it's changed its flight plan."

"I don't see how that-" Waller stopped when she saw the drone's new target coordinates. "No!"

Flynn laughed and the monitor then changed to show a dual display of the satellite tracking feed and the live video feed from another satellite that focused on a cemetery in Chicago. "Remember what I told you, Amanda?" he asked. "Remember when I said I was going to fucking crucify you? Consider this your first couple nails."

"You wouldn't dare!" Waller snarled.

"Funny you should say that," David chuckled. "I mean, I remember someone threatening to unleash their clone of Supergirl on MY city and wipe it out to force my cooperation. Then I learn that my girlfriend somehow got pulled into this world and you're trying to think of ways to capture her and use her as leverage against me. And then, I also learn that you also have a missile with a kryptonite warhead ready to launch on my city just to cover your fucking tracks! Oh, Amanda, you make those threats against me and you say I wouldn't dare to slam a heavily armed combat drone into the graves of your husband and two children?"

Amanda watched in horror as the aforementioned drone crashed into the ground where her family members were buried and exploded, vaporizing the graves and anything within a fifty yard radius. The orbital tracking display vanished and the now burning cemetery plot took up the whole screen. A lone tear ran down Waller's cheek as she watched the smoke rise up in the sky and emergency response vehicles started to make their way to the scene.

"Yes, I know that I have done something terrible and I wouldn't be surprised if there was some collateral damage and that people nearby might be injured or worse," Flynn said coldly. "But then I'm reminded of some words I heard spoken from someone else recently. Tell me, Amanda, do you remember these words?"

Bold white text letters suddenly appeared on the screen over the video feed of the burning cemetery:

NOT MY WORLD, NOT MY PROBLEM.

And those six words did what no one else in this world could never accomplish; they broke Amanada Waller who finally snapped and, with a feral scream, dropped the phone, pulled out a pistol and emptied its magazine into the monitor, causing it to explode and send burning fragments everywhere.

For several seconds, there was nothing but silence in Amanda Waller's office except for the faint popping of burning circuitry and the soft sobs of widow and mother mourning the destruction of her family's remains.

And that was when the speakers to her office intercom kicked on.

"And Amanda, I'm just getting started with you."


	27. CADMUS Burning II

Disclaimer: Justice League Unlimited, owned by DC and Warner Brothers. Aberrant, owned by Onyx Publishing.

Author's Notes: Okay, I had several ideas for this chapter, most of them dealing with a David/Galatea throw down, then I realized the original plan I had wouldn't work as well with the way the story's been going (and you can blame two certain assholes who are currently running amok in Arkham for that...they changed a lot of shit in this story). Also had to work some overtime during the week and deal with some family drama (which, thankfully, did not end up with anyone getting arrested this time), so I didn't get to finish this particular arc of the story. Don't worry, I got the next part mostly done (because it's got stuff that I was originally going to use this chapter, but I'm changing things and pushing it back).

Oh, and just so you know, I'm not too good at writing hand to hand combat scenes, but I will be attempting to get better.

* * *

 _ **CADMUS Headquarters**_

 _ **Santa Fe, New Mexico**_

Emil Hamilton never considered himself to be a paranoid man. Yes, a maybe more than a little cautious, but he never thought of himself as being paranoid like Lex Luthor, General Eiling, or Amanda Waller. He did believe in taking safety precautions when it came to "security related situations", but he didn't apply it every aspect of his life.

At least he didn't until he met David Pine Flynn. Now that he saw what that monster hiding behind the mask of a teenager was capable of, Hamilton found himself reaching levels of fear and paranoia he had never dreamed of whenever he thought about the young man. In fact, Hamilton had more fear of the boy than he did of Superman and the rest of Justice League going rogue. Superman and the others were a potential threat that had to be kept in check. But David Pine Flynn...he was an ACTIVE threat.

 _An active threat YOU helped create,_ the annoying voice of his conscience reminded him. _Because of Waller's own paranoia and obsession with the league, you let your "daughter" go off on a mission where she went out of her way to maim and kill people who had no quarrel with us. And now, the newly acquired asset wants to murder you, Galatea, everyone one in this facility, and probably the rest of the world._

Hamilton mentally scoffed at that thought. After all, that was simply blowing things to exaggerated proportions. But that sentiment failed to silence the voice.

 _Is it really an exaggeration? He is a mega-genius metahuman whose intellect rivals that of Lex Luthor, has the ability to interact with all electronic devices the way Ace can work her way with the human mind, and is also about three times stronger and faster than the average human being. He has been taken from his world, people he cared about were killed, and we're now torturing him for whatever information he has._

It's for the protection of our world, Hamilton countered.

 _Yes, to protect our world, we attacked his just to get him. And given his actions and general attitude, what do you think would happen if he gets loose again? He may decide to escalate things and take it outside of CADMUS._

Then it's good thing we have Ace to keep him in check, Hamilton mentally shouted back.

"Hello, Doctor Hamilton."

Emil almost jumped up in fear at the tiny female voice as he spun around to see Ace standing there in her black and white jumpsuit.

"I'm sorry, young lady, I did not see you there," he said, trying to regain his usual composed demeanor.

Ace gave him a sad smile. "Of course you didn't, because I didn't want you to see me." Then her smile faded back to the usual somber expression she had on her face. "You really shouldn't argue with yourself, you know. People might think you're insane and lock you up."

"And you really shouldn't be reading people's minds, Ace. It's impolite." Then he sighed and shook his head. "Though I suppose my mental conversation probably sounded like a loud argument being overheard in a thin-walled apartment complex. I'm sorry for that."

The girl tilted her head slightly to the side. "It's okay, Doctor Hamilton."

"If you don't mind me asking, my dear, why are you here?" Emil asked.

"To find you," Ace replied. "You need to leave now, Doctor Hamilton. And if you can, take Galatea with you."

Ace's reply caused Emil to stop dead in his tracks. "Why?"

"I know what you do, Doctor, I know that you examine, enhance, and create metas. I know that you, like others here, have done experiments." As she spoke, her voice took on a cold tone, but then it softened again. "But I also know that out of all of them, you didn't mistreat me. Yes, I was an experiment, as was Galatea, but you didn't treat me like a weapon that didn't feel. You showed kindness and that's why I'm warning you to collect Galatea and leave. HE is ready to break free and, unlike myself, will not be as forgiving as I am."

Emil was about to ask who she was talking about, but then the answer hit him as he fearfully realized that Ace was walking away. "Flynn," he whispered in horror before turning around and running towards the Director's office, forgetting the little girl who was now walking down the corridors of CADMUS and humming a tune to a song that was not from this Earth.

When he reached the Director's Office, he saw Colonel Flagg, Floyd Lawton and a couple security personnel outside Waller's door. He noticed the two security guards were holding on to a powered-battering ram. "What's going on?"

"Waller's office is completely sealed off," Flagg replied as he nodded to the two security men to ram the door. "We know she's in there, but all communication has been cut off."

However, after three tries, the powered battering ram began to overheat and had to be shut down cool off. Flagg ordered the two security personnel to head back to the armory and retrieve a couple of the experimental laser torches. He knew it would take longer, but he knew those devices would cut through the door...in about five or six hours.

"You'll never be able to get in there," Lawton said. "Waller's a paranoid bitch and she made sure that not even a blast from a tank at point blank range could breach that door."

"We have bigger problems, I'm afraid," Emil said, looking down the hall. "Flynn's free and...oh god..Doctor Moon!"

"What about him?" Lawton asked, though he really didn't care about the man one way or the other.

"He was doing another interrogation session with Flynn in his lab."

Flagg cursed under his breath and tapped the number to Moon's office on the keypad of a wall mounted com-unit. "Moon, it's Flagg, you there?"

"Oh, I'm sorry, but I'm afraid the good Doctor Moon will be absent from this facility...permanently," replied a voice on the other end, a voice that caused a slight tremor of fear in everyone present.

"Flynn," Flagg growled. "How did you get free?"

"Wrong question to be asking there, Flaggo," Flynn chuckled. "The real question you should be asking is how long did you think I would allow you to keep me?"

"Fuck, we should have known," Lawton groaned. "His attempt to escape, us recapturing him, it was all a ruse and we fell for it."

"Wow, Lawton, you figured it out. Maybe you should have Flagg's job; unlike him, it appears you can actually think. As for Waller, don't worry, she's perfectly safe in there. You see, I want her to live through this. Unfortunately, I'm not feeling to lenient about you guys, but I'm more focused on getting out of here at the moment."

"You won't make it," Emil said. "Galatea is operational and she will stop you."

Flynn's laughter echoed through the corridor. "Oh yes, please, Hamilton, break out the bimbo clone of Supergirl. We all know how well that ended the last couple times. However, this time...there will be no reprieve for her. The only dilemma I face concerning you two is trying to figure out who I kill and who will be forced to watch as everything they care about is taken from them. Ask Waller how that feels IF you get the chance because I actually managed to hurt her. Granted, she might now be pissed and go all out to take me down, but that's okay, I love making my enemies suffer."

Then the lights throughout the entire facility dimmed and alarms went off.

"Well, that's my cue," Flynn cheerfully announced. "I'm departing Moon's lab now and making my way to Sector 42. I'm even restoring some of your communications so please; call for reinforcements, call Galatea, tell them where I'm headed, they'll be easier to kill that way." Then a couple heavy steel doors cut off the corridor on both sides of them. "But you guys can stay put for the time being. See ya!"

The three men were silent for several seconds, then Emil was about to say something when Flagg put a finger to his own lips and nodded over at Lawton who pulled out a small disc shaped object and placed it on the wall. Once it was attached, Lawton pushed a button and the item glowed for a moment before a tiny LED light on it began flashing green. "Okay, we're good," he said to the others.

"Scrambler," Flagg replied to Emil's questioning glance. "And it would appear I owe Lawton ten bucks, the rabid animal did get loose."

"I'll settle for time off my sentence," Lawton grumbled.

"We live through this, I'll personally shave off a few years," Flagg fired back.

"Wait, hold on, you knew this would happen?" Emil asked in shocked disbelief.

Lawton shrugged. "Not really, but we did have a contingency plan in case he did escape. Now that the alarms have gone off, the appropriate people will be enacting the new protocol I had put in place. And since we know what Flynn wants, we're going to deny him getting it."

Emil scoffed at the man. "Somehow, I doubt you'll keep him from reacquiring his gauntlets."

"Oh, we're going to make sure he doesn't, but that's not what he's after," Flagg said. "Or, more to the point, it's not WHO he's after."

Before Flagg could say anything else, something hard pounded against one of the steel doors sealing them off in the corridor. A couple more impacts later, the door buckled before being ripped open to reveal Galatea standing there with a very angry look on her face. "Dammit, Lawton, why did you have to be right?"

"You knew about this too?" Emil asked the young woman as she tossed the remains of the steel door aside.

"No, but Lawton and Flagg said that my first priority was getting you out of here in case Flynn got loose," she replied with a smirk before her expression darkened. "And then I'm going to come back and beat that little shit into paste."

"You'll do no such thing," Flagg snapped. "He's already taken you down twice, and the only reason he hasn't killed you is because others managed to stop him."

"Yes, but if I can get to him before he gets his toys-"

Lawton cut her off. "That's not a sure thing, kid. The bastard played us the last time and, now that I think about it, I'm starting to think he had help."

"Who?" Galatea asked. "I doubt anyone has the guts to go rogue on us, not when Waller could kill them with the push of a button."

"Not if she felt like she didn't have anything to lose," Emil said, momentarily looking at the ground before looking back up at the others. "Ace tried to warn me..told me to get out." He then looked over at Galatea. She told me to get you out of here as well."

Galatea's expression went from anger to shock within a second. "No...she couldn't...she wouldn't. She was a friend."

"To you, and perhaps even me," Emil explained. "But to everyone else, she was either an asset to be controlled or a monster to be feared, just like you." He then shot Flagg a hostile look. "Isn't that right, Colonel?"

Before Flagg could respond, Lawton stepped in between them. "Look, as someone who is just a 'disposable asset with a bomb in his neck', I just want to say this is not the time or place to have that kind of argument. The kid obviously switched sides and is helping Flynn. Not sure why she turned, but we gotta' stop them both. Galatea, get the Doc outta' here and go to ground. Flynn wants one of you dead and the other to suffer, that much we do know, and I get the feeling he doesn't care which one he does kill."

"But you need-" Galatea started to say, but Flagg interrupted her.

"But nothing, head to our beta-site and meet up with Eiling," he ordered. "You'll need to help set up a second line of defense in case Flynn keeps going on his rampage." Then he smiled at her. "And don't worry, Tea, you're not the only 'big gun' we got in our arsenal. Now get moving."

For a moment, it appeared that the clone was going to disobey her superior officer, but then nodded reluctantly before gently grabbing Emil and flying off down the corridor. A few seconds later, Lawton spoke up as he gestured to the heavily reinforced door to Waller's office. "So what are we going to do about her?"

Flagg shrugged. "Nothing we can do," he admitted. "She's safe in there, a lot safer than we are and Flynn doesn't want her dead for some reason, he said that himself."

"And you think he'll keep his word?"

"Lawton, from what I've seen of the kid, if Flynn manages to kill us I get the feeling we'll still be the lucky ones. But honestly, I'm not in a hurry to just lie down and die, not without a fight."

"Sounds good to me," Lawton said as he pulled out a pistol and cocked it, sliding a round into the chamber. "I just hope whatever 'big guns' you have are actually up to taking Flynn on, because our peashooters are going to be mostly useless this time around"

Flagg mimicked Lawton's action as he pulled his own weapon out of his jacket and made sure it was ready. Then he gave Lawton a knowing grin. "Oh yeah," he said. "They'll deal with Flynn. And if they can't stop him, they'll seriously fuck him up enough that Galatea and Eiling will be able to take him down.

* * *

David stepped out of Moon's office and into the empty corridor, frowning slightly that there were no security guards coming his direction. He did see some lab personnel fleeing away from him, however, and sighed. "Dammit...was kind of hoping to thin out their ranks a little...not that it matters."

His mental link to the facility's system informed him that there were a few squad's waiting for him in various corridors and in the main lab in Sector 42 along with some bizarre energy readings that seemed to be causing some interference. When he tried to access the security cameras, he got mostly static, but he was able to make out two figures and, according to the readings he was getting from the other systems, someone was kicking out some major quantum energy. He tried to get a visual ID, but found himself unable to get a clear look.

 _Oh well,_ he thought, _it doesn't really matter._

An alert informed him that someone or something had torn down one of the security doors to the facility; but when he tried to access the security cams, he himself encountering interference.

"Well, damn, someone is using scramblers and trying to be sneaky," he laughed. "Color me impressed.""

He made his way through various corridors and frowned again as he saw more lab personnel fleeing when they caught sight of him approaching. "Oh, c'mon!" he shouted. "You wasted all that time trying to capture and hold me, now you're running away?" Then he rolled his eyes before looking up at one of the cameras in the corridor he was in. "Gee, I wonder what you guys could possibly doing? Setting up an ambush for me down in Sector 42?"

"Something like that," David heard someone say from behind him, causing him to turn around and see a muscular man wearing dark blue and gold body armor, a golden helmet, and carrying a golden shield on is right arm. He stood there glaring at David, his body shifting slightly as he obviously prepared to attack. "Now stand down," he ordered, "or I will put you down."

It was clear the man was expecting a confrontation, but he was clearly not expecting David's reaction.

David stood there for a moment, a look of disbelief on his face. Then he exploded in laughter, pointing at the man. "AHHHAHAHAHAHAHA! Oh god!" He stumbled slightly to the side, putting his other arm up against the wall to steady himself. "Sorry," he said, glancing down at the ground for a moment. "Wasn't expecting to see a Golden Avenger/Captain America knock-off on this world."

The armored man stood his ground, though he did seem taken off guard by David's reaction. "Who?"

David took a moment to catch his breath and recover. "Never mind, you obviously wouldn't get the joke." Then his eyes flickered for a moment as his link to the CADMUS network identified his new enemy. "Jim Harper...also known as Guardian. Enhanced strength, reflexes, combat training, and that nifty light exo-suit you're wearing."

"Then you know you aren't going to make it past me."

David grinned at the man. "You never got the full briefing on me, did you?" David asked as he moved forward just as Guardian lunged at him. He dropped to his knees, letting his movement continue to take him forward as the other man's right arm and shield went over his head while he slid across the smooth floor. He rolled back up onto his feet and turned to reface the man who had managed to turn around and follow up his attack with a flurry of punches and kicks that David managed to dodge or deflect.

"What kind of meta are you?" Guardian snarled as he swung at David who dodged out of the way, causing the arm mounted shield to embed itself in the wall.

David was mildly surprised by the question. "Seriously? They never told you?"

"You're a low level meta escapee from another dimension that CADMUS managed to apprehend," Guardian replied.

"Really, well damn, they really didn't give you the whole story." David managed to land a solid punch to the man's face, knocking him back a few feet and loosening his shield out of the wall. He also shook his hand slightly from the pain of impact. "Ouch, almost broke my fingers doing that."

Guardian suddenly jumped back and threw his shield at David, expecting it to knock David off his feet. Instead, David did what Guardian (and any CADMUS personnel watching the fight via security camera) had considered impossible: he dodged to the side, his left arm extended, caught the shield, spun around, and threw it right back at its owner who wasn't expecting his own weapon to hit him in the shoulder.

As Guardian stumbled backwards from the impact, David followed up with a kick that caught the man in the shoulder, adding to his momentum and knocking him off balance which allowed David to sweep his legs out from under him. As Guardian moved to get back up on his feet, David grabbed the golden shield and swung with all his strength at the man's head, snapping the man's sharply to the side and shattering part of the helmet. Dazed and shocked from the blow coming from what he considered a "light combat threat", Guardian dropped backwards on the ground. He sluggishly attempted to get up but found David suddenly on top of him, bringing his shield down faster than his own reflexes could react. He felt a sharp and solid impact on his chest and grunted in pain as he felt a couple of his ribs crack...then he found that he couldn't move.

"That's the problem with people who rely too much on toys to augment their abilities," David rasped as he got back up to his feet and looked down at the man who now had his own golden shield partially embedded in the chest of his exo-suit. "The toys can be used against them and broken."

Though it took all his effort, Guardian managed to force himself to sit up. He knew Flynn was right and the kid would finish him off before he could get a chance to physically remove the exo-suit. "So you think killing me is going to help you any?" he asked.

The young man stared at him, a distant look in his eyes as he mentally called up the data he had on Jim Harper. He then sighed and shook his head. "No, Mr. Harper, because you actually believe you are fighting the good fight which is kind of sad since you have no idea of the kind of people you work for. They didn't even give you the full story on me and said, according to you, that I was a 'meta criminal from another dimension that escaped'. They never told you that I was a 'forcibly acquired asset' or what they did to acquire and contain me."

Guardian could hear the footsteps of approaching security personnel and saw a squad of five men emerge at the far end of the corridor behind David. Had he not just fought the young man, he would have assumed that five heavily armed guards were overkill, but he also noticed that the boy didn't turn around to face them even as they started to raise their weapons.

"And they never told you what I'm truly capable of, did they?" David asked as two heavy caliber automated machine guns suddenly dropped out of the ceiling and gunned down the security detachment within a few seconds before withdrawing back into the ceiling. The boy's expression was cold and detached as he he looked down at Guardian.

"You were just a pawn, Jim Harper...a glorified roadblock sent to be a distraction. You obviously failed." David then turned and walked away, pausing for a moment to pick up a pistol, a couple magazines, and a grenade from one of the guards he had just killed.

"You will be stopped," Guardian called out. "I may be a pawn, but the real heavy hitters are waiting for you with your 'toys'."

David shrugged, not even bother to look back at the man. "Harper, if I had my 'toys', you and the rest of this place would be ash by now." Then he chuckled as he continued to walk away. "Then again, if someone else has their way, that might still happen."

* * *

Getting to Sector 42 was almost anti-climactic for David. Yes, he had run into a couple security teams, but managed to dispatch them with the pistol he acquired or some of the facility's more creative automated defenses. Now, he was standing outside the door to the lab his gauntlets were in, he could feel the energy being kicked out from them, it's harmonic rhythm like a song to him. He tried to access the security camera's again and got mostly static, but he knew there was only one super powered being in there. He then linked to the communications system so the room's occupants could hear him. "Got to give you credit for trying to use scramblers to hinder me," he said. "But it's not going to work and you know what I'm capable of. So here's what's going to happen, Galatea. You can wait for me to open the door, or you can open it yourself and try to kill me before I kill you. It's your call, bitch."

Part of him was half expecting the doors to suddenly explode and he was prepared to dodge out of the way as his brain quickly calculated the trajectory of most of the shrapnel, but no explosion came. Because they were using some sort of advanced electronic scramblers, he couldn't do anything until he got a line of sight on his target. Obviously, the scrambler technology was relatively new since it seemed to only be limited to certain areas.

There was a slight hissing sound, followed by the rumbling of machinery as the heavy reinforced security doors opened up to reveal a dimly lit lab with the only illumination coming from various computer terminal monitors and the glowing of his ZP gauntlets which were now attached to a very impressive looking type of powered armor that was in a containment chamber in the middle of the lab.

David squinted his eyes slightly and could make out a shadowy figure that didn't have Galatea's measurements. In fact, the figure was taller, more muscular, and their hands started to glow a reddish color. "And you're definitely not Galatea," he stated, a bemused look on his face as the figure stepped forward out of the shadows.

"No, I'm not,"said Captain Atom, raising a glowing fist that was crackling with sinister red arcs of energy as he started to float up several inches off the ground. "So how's this gonna' go down?"

* * *

Author's Note II: Now before some of you go off on a tirade about David being OP, it's obvious that CADMUS (though they underestimated him) did take some measures and do things that he didn't expect. Also, as for his being able to take on Guardian, keep in mind he is a genetically engineered being and he has the strength and reflexes that are three times the human norm (sometimes a little more if he pushes himself, but he's no where near as strong like Bomber or Violet...yes, Violet IS stronger physically than David). I will warn you, however, that something really bad happens in the next chapter, but it is necessary (because the end of this arc will link to what happened in the most recent chapter of "Defiance and Insurrection").

Oh, and did anyone else suspect Captain Atom was going to show up?


	28. CADMUS Burning III

**Disclaimer:** Aberrant, owned by White Wolf. Incredibles, owned by Pixar/Disney (though Violet is the only character in this chapter). Justice League, owned by DC and WB.

 **Author's Note:** Hey, I'm back. Been working a lot so I haven't had time to write. As usual, this work is unbeta'd which means there will probably be some errors and I will correct them as I re-read the chapter (hell, still finding errors in other chapters that I've corrected more than once). Anyway, this chapter ties loosely to what happened at the end of chapter 30 of "Defiance and Insurrection". If you're reading that story, you know what's going to happen. If you haven't read that story...don't worry...you won't be completely in the dark. This chapter was kind of hard to write because I was being bounced around three different shifts and my sleep schedule was messed up. So I feel like I was sleep-typing half of this. And, just to warn you, you'll be seeing some more "Dark!Davis" in this chapter.

Oh, and for the record, I don't hate Superman or Captain Atom, but I do find both of them to be a little naive about some things...at least that's how I saw it while watching JLU (particularly Captain Atom). And for the record, just saw a couple episodes of Justice League Action...and um….sorry...but let's just say I'm not a fan of that show.

* * *

 **CADMUS HEADQUARTERS**

 **Santa Fe, New Mexico**

For a few seconds, neither man said anything, each studying the other for possible weaknesses and trying to figure out how best to take out their opponent. While Captain Atom was certain he had the advantage, he knew he couldn't dismiss this David Flynn as a threat. After all, he had seen the video feed of him taking down Guardian and then using the facilities own automated systems to gun down various security personnel. Yes, this young man was actually more of a threat than he physically appeared to be and the quantum powered hero wasn't sure if he shouldn't just burn the boy down and be done with it.

It also didn't help that the young man simply stood there with an amused expression his face.

"Captain Nathaniel Adam, United States Air Force." David's eyes seemed a little unfocused as if he were reading something that Nathaniel couldn't see. "Also known as Captain Atom, abilities include quantum energy manipulation and all the goodies that come with it." Then he chuckled as he focused on the man still floating in the air in front of him. "Gotta' admit, I really wasn't expecting to run into you."

There was something in the young man's eyes that made Captain Atom feel uneasy. He decided it would be better to force the issue and end it quickly before the young man had a chance to act. "I'll say this one last time," he stated, "stand down or I will take you down."

"Please," David snorted, shaking his head. "Do you even know why they sent you after me?"

"All I know is that you are an escaped criminal from another Earth and you killed a lot of people here."

David couldn't help laughing at that. "An escaped criminal from another Earth, am I? Damn...they really are getting creative when it comes to feeding bullshit to their soldiers. However, I will admit, I did kill some people here."

"I saw the video footage, boy," Captain Atom scowled. "You killed several soldiers just doing their jobs and you brutally murdered the Wildcards team...they were just kids!"

"Really, you want to go there?" David's sharp tone caught the older man by surprise. "With maybe two or three exceptions, most of the soldiers here have no problem gunning down civilians and would have faced court-martial for some of the crimes they've committed while in uniform if they were still regular military; but that's why Waller chose them, she likes having disposable killers. As for the Wildcards, they were a pack of sociopaths and one of them was a fucking child molester, so forgive me if I don't feel guilty for flushing shit down a toilet." He took a step forwards but stopped when a glowing fist was pointed in his direction. When he spoke again, his voice had dropped to a dangerous growl. "So get out of my way, this is not something you want to die for."

"You can't win against me," Captain Atom warned. "You may have enhanced reflexes, strength, and a mental link to electronic networks, but that won't stop me from burning you down."

David nodded in agreement. "Yeah, you're right. You got flight, super-strength, energy blasts...QUANTUM energy blasts." He raised his hands in surrender. "Damn, you got me."

Then all the lighting in the room activated all at once, going off at its highest setting, momentarily blinding Captain Atom before blinking off, along with the lighting from the containment chamber that housed CADMUS' armored suit project.

"Not." David's voice echoed slightly in the room as the doors to the lab closed. "Yeah, I know you will adapt in a few seconds to get some low light function to your containment suit working. But I don't think it will work for something like this."

The lights suddenly flickered on and off at full intensity, creating a massive strobe effect that made it hard for Captain Atom to see and impossible to stop an office chair that hit him from behind. Though it didn't actually do any damage, it did cause him to involuntarily turn and instinctively fire a quantum bolt in the direction the chair had come from.

"Impressive, I think you just toasted one of the main research terminals," David taunted. "Nowhere near actually hitting me though."

The Captain unleashed another blast of energy in the direction the voice came from.

"Nope."

Another quantum bolt of energy went after the voice's new location.

"And there went someone's experiment about advanced geo-magnetic manipulation."

And yet another bolt in yet another direction."

"Arrgh! You got me..."

Then a metallic object hit the floor, bouncing once before stopping a few feet in front of Captain Atom whose eyes widened in horror when he recognized it even with the violent strobe effect going on in the room. The force from the concussion grenade knocked him back a few feet and sent him staggering several more until he came in contact with a wall that he used to steady himself.

"Okay, punk," he seethed as his eyes started to glow bluish-white and his armored body began to glow. "Let's see how you like being blinded!"

The entire lab was illuminated with an even more intense blue white light that flooded the entire area, overpowering the strobe effect to the point that any normal human in the area would have been blinded permanently.

He waited for about thirty seconds before he lowered the intensity, bringing the light level to a normal level. "Say something now, you little shit," he said, looking around the room for his target who he guessed was now blinded and huddling in a corner.

"Okay," replied a voice behind him accompanied by the sound of powered servo-motors. The next moment, Captain Atom felt something solid connect with the side of his head and found himself sailing across the lab before hitting a wall and leaving a human sized dent in it before he dropped to the ground.

 _Damn,_ he thought to himself, _I actually felt that._

He shook his head and pulled himself back to his feet. That was when he saw the eight foot tall powered armor now standing in the room, its eye slits glowing a neon blue and the armored gauntlets glowing a similar color while random arcs of quantum energy seemed to dance around a pair of clenched fists.

"Mobile Nanotech Armored Combat Hardsuit," David's voice had a slight echo as it came through the suit's external speakers. "Or Monarch for short. Did you know they initially planned on using you as a test subject for it? Hamilton and the others theorized that it might have been possible for it to be powered by whatever excess quantum you bled off because they couldn't find another power source strong enough to run it...until they took my gauntlets."

Captain Atom's response was firing full charged quantum blasts that caused the power armor to stagger back. He then took to the air and charged right at David, tackling him and smashing through the wall of the lab and four other walls after that. "You talk too much," he snarled as he landed a few punches on the faceplate of the armor's helmet.

A high pitched whine was the only warning Captain Atom received before he was suddenly blasted backward by a blast of energy, not unlike his own. Though it didn't hurt him, it did throw him back at least a dozen yards as his adversary got back up on his feet.

"Yeah, yeah, I know," David said as he started walking the armor towards Captain Atom. "But maybe if you actually listened, I wouldn't talk so much." He brought his right arm up and absorbed a blast that the Captain fired at him. "Case in point, you are a living being comprised of quantum energy and I am a man who knows A LOT about quantum energy and is in possession of technology that allows me to MANIPULATE quantum energy. Here, let me demonstrate."

Captain Atom stood there as David fired at him, figuring he could simply absorb the blast. Instead, he found himself experiencing a searing pain in his chest as he took a blast that was a few times more powerful than what he had fired at his opponent and forced him to drop to his knees.

"Ouch, that looked like it hurt," David quipped. "These gauntlets of mine, they can literally tap into the ambient quantum energy floating around in the universe. Basically, it's unlimited power. Your suit, however, is merely a containment vessel for your body and allows you to absorb and discharge energy...but even it has limits." David brought up both arms, each fist glowing an intense blue-white color. "I wonder how much you can take before you blow."

"No," Captaim Atom rasped as he jumped back up to his feet and lunged at David, only to be caught in an energy field being projected by David's gauntlets.

"On second thought, let's test the durability of that suit of yours is and see what it takes to make a breach, shall we?" With a gesture of his right arm, David slammed Captain Atom up into the ceiling, then fired several quantum force bolts with his left arm the man that sent him blasting through the ceiling and through two levels above them.

Captain Atom groaned as he attempted to get up off the ground.

"Here, let me help you back up." An armored hand grabbed the hero by the ankle and he once again found himself hurtling through the air down a corridor before crashing through another wall.

"You know what the sad part is, Captain?" David asked as he slowly approached Captain Atom who was pushing chunks of debris off himself. "I really don't want to do this. I know you're a hero and you see yourself as an honorable man, a soldier just following orders. Unfortunately, many German soldiers back in World War Two probably thought of themselves the same way as they rounded up a shitload of their fellow citizens, threw them into trains, and shipped them off to some camp to be slaughtered and baked."

With a snarl, the silver armored hero blasted the last of the debris away and scrambled to his feet. "You dare to go there!" He unleashed several energy bolts at the approaching Monarch armor that actually caused David to stumble backwards a few steps.

"Well, well...did I hit a nerve, Captain? Let me guess how they got you, they probably picked a superior officer." He brought up an arm and had one his gauntlets bring up an energy shield that deflected a new wave of energy bolts. "Probably that asshole Eiling...oh yeah, I know about him, his file reads more like a demon's resume. Tell me, did he pull the whole 'patriotic duty' bullshit card that he probably stopped believing in about….oh….thirty years ago? Oh, you must have looked like the perfect sucker to him. Just wave the Stars and Stripes, pay a little lip service using buzzwords like 'loyalty'. 'duty', 'honor', and 'country' and that's all it takes for you to switch sides, right?"

"Shut up!" Captain Atom shot forward, both fists glowing as he threw several punches at David, forcing the Monarch back.

Inside the Monarch armor, David studied the data flashing in front of his eyes.

 _Interesting,_ he thought. _The bastard's modulating the quantum energy from his physical attacks. He keeps this up, he might be able to breach the protective field and actually punch some holes in the suit...time to put a stop to that._

He suddenly reached out with this right arm, catching the oncoming punch. He then had his right gauntlet channel the equal amount of energy his opponent was channeling.

Captain Atom's eyes widened in horror when David tightened the armor's grip. "What are you doing?"

"Seeing how much of a build-up we generate before we blow," David replied.

"Are you crazy? You'll blow up the entire facility and the area around it!"

David cocked the armor's head to one side. "Hmmm, sounds like a fair trade. I kill everyone here and it prevents you people from coming to my world ever again. Sure, innocents will die here, but I figure I'll have as much sympathy as Waller and the rest of you CADMUS people did for the people on my world. My only regret is that Galatea isn't here to go with us."

"NO!" Captain Atom screamed. He immediately powered down, taking the full blast David was channeling. Though he absorbed some of the energy, there was more than enough to blast him through a few more walls. Pain shot through his body as the excess quantum energy burned through his system. He tried to get back up, but only managed to get to his knees.

The Monarch armor landed a few feet in front of him. "I'd tell you to stand down, Captain," David said. "I really don't want to kill you, but I know you are just too damn stubborn to give up. But I want to ask you a question: do you really think your allegiance to God and Country extends to shadowy organizations like this that experiment on people all in the false claim of 'peace and security' when all they really care about is power?"

"And what gives you the right to judge me like that?" Captain Atom snapped.

"Nothing really," David answered with a shrug. "I'm not judging, I'm merely retaliating." Then he brought one of the armor's gauntlets level with the Captain's head. "But, if it makes you feel better, consider this a battlefield execution."

"And I think you've made your point, David." David turned to see Ace stepping out into the corridor through one of the holes he had blasted Captain Atom through. "You've beaten him, he's hurting, you don't need to kill him."

"I'm wouldn't be sure about that, Aly, he was willing to turn on the League and side with CADMUS." Errant arcs of quantum sparks danced around the now charging gauntlet. "I'll make it quick."

"You're not a monster, David," Ace said as she held up a rectangular object. "There's no need to become one, not when you can go home. Please...you're NOT your father."

For a moment, David didn't move and Captain Atom was wondering if the kid was actually going to kill him. Then the gauntlet powered down as the Monarch armor took a step back. "Congratulations, Captain, you get to live and learn from your mistake." Then he looked over at Ace. "Is that the device?"

Ace nodded as she handed it to him. "Powered up and I convinced the lab tech to program the coordinates before he and the rest of his team fell asleep."

David chuckled as he took the device and mentally linked to it. Within a couple seconds, he had figured out how to program it. "You are a nicer human being than I ever will be, Allison," he said. He tapped a couple keys on the portal device and smiled as a shimmering blue-white hole opened in front of them. "Go on ahead, I'll be right behind you."

"That's far enough," barked a voice that had Ace suddenly shaking in fear.

However, unlike Ace, David felt anger and disgust as he turned to face the direction of the voice. "Director Waller," he sneered at the CADMUS director who was flanked by Flagg and Lawron, "how did you get out that little cage of yours?"

Waller smirked at the young man and snapped her fingers and five figures stepped out of the shadows. "Did you really think I didn't have a contingency plan?"

"Hmmm...wasn't expecting you to bring out the Ulitmen drone clones," David mused. "I also notice that you Flagg and Lawton are wearing those funky headsets to block Allison's abilities."

"And you'll find the drones are also shielded against her influence...and yours." Waller gave him a predatory grin as she pulled out a pistol. "So, stand down, boy, or it gets ugly."

Flynn laughed, taking on an almost sinister effect when it came through the Monarch's speakers. "Really, Waller? You think your clones, a soldier, a washed up assassin, and your pathetic little pistol will stop me?"

"Not really," Waller replied. "But I guess I'll hit you where I can do the most damage." Before David could react Waller's wrist twitched slightly before she fired two shots, the first one hitting Ace in the shoulder, and the next one in her chest.

"No!" David screamed as he scrambled over to where Ace had fallen. He knelt down and propped her up. A momentary flashback tore through his mind as he remembered a similar situation not too long ago when another young lady with dark hair was bleeding out in his arms. "Aly, I'm sorry, stay with me..."

The young metahuman looked up at David, giving him a sad smile as blood started to trickle out of side of her mouth. "David...don't leave me."

"No," David said, the Monarch's helmet retracting back into the armor. "I promised to get you out of here. You're not dying here."

"Surrender, Flynn, and we might be able to save her," Waller taunted as she took a couple steps back and the Ulitmen clones started to slowly approach. "She has maybe a few minutes left. Just remember, it's your fault it had to be like this. Then again, you should have expected this. After all...you hurt my family, I hurt yours."

David's grief and anguish vanished from his face, his expression suddenly becoming a cold mask, his eyes momentarily flashing a bright green. When he spoke, his voice was barely more than a whisper as he took the portal unit and put it on Ace's lap. "Allison, just focus on staying alive for the next few minutes...you'll be safe."

"David...no...don't do it, don't become HIM."

David bowed his head slightly. "It's too late for that, Aly, but I want you to live." Before Ace could react, he mentally triggered a sequence and the portal suddenly expanded around Ace before closing up and vanishing.

David continued to kneel there, looking down at the space Ace had occupied and ignoring the Ultimen clones that slowly approached him. Then a cruel smile formed on his lips as the armor's helmet reformed around his head. "Congratulations, Waller, you just convinced me to kill you."

As he spun around, a tendril of quantum energy whipped out from one of David's gauntlets, ripping the Windmaster clone in half while a concentrated blast of quantum energy from the other gauntlet incinerated Downpour. The electrical powered clone of Juice unleashed a continuous stream of electrical bolts that briefly danced around the ZP field surrounding David's armor.

A moment later, David redirected the electrical attack at the oncoming Shifter who had assumed the form of a giant elephant. Despite being a near mindless clone of the original Shifter, it didn't stop the creature from screaming in agony before leaving nothing but a half-morphed burnt out shell of what it once been.

"Pathetic," David growled as he caught Juice in a quantum field. The clone attempted to escape by assuming a form of pure electricity which David had his field absorb completely before discharging the absorbed energy into the approaching Longshadow that had grown to nearly thirty feet in height. The blast cored the giant clone, vaporizing its chest, lungs, and heart. David kicked in the Monarch suit's thrusters, dodging the falling body of the dead clone and bringing one of his gauntlets up to target Waller.

"Time to die, bi-"

Something violently collided with him from the side and the Monarch's HUD showed minor damage as he rolled with the impact to come back up in a crouch. When he got a look at his attacker, he couldn't help shaking his head in amusement. "Oh, you gotta' be fucking kidding me."

Battered, beaten, multiple fractures all over his containment suit glowing slightly as they leaked out quantum energy, Caprain Atom floated a few feet off the ground, raising a glowing fist that matched the intensity of the glow coming from his eyes. "You will have to get past me, monster!"

David let out a cold chuckle. "A monster? Me? Not yet, but your masters are pushing me to that point." He then had his gauntlets' safety thresholds disengaged, causing them and the field surrounding the Monarch to glow an ominous blue-white. "Time for your final mission, soldier!"

The Monarch's thrusters flared to life, propelling David at Captain Atom as Captain Atom flew at him in a suicidal charge.

* * *

 _ **The Watchtower**_

 _ **Somewhere in Earth Orbit**_

Though he had spent the last couple hours watching the comatose form of Lex Luthor, Question refused to leave the room. Lex's vital signs were barely above that of a vegetable, but he didn't trust Luthor, not even in this alleged weakened state. And yet...he couldn't help feeling that he was missing something vital.

 _Whoever did this to Lex left us with nothing. With the exception of eyewitnesses saying they saw something fly away from Lex's building when it blew, we got nothing. No security cameras got a good shot and those that were nearby on other buildings were either looking the other direction or on stand-by. Almost as if something had hacked them….but who or what would have done that? Brainiac would be the logical suspect, but this was too showy, even for him. Though I suppose he could have done this to throw us off his trail, but he knows we would suspect that. No...this is someone new...this Case Black, as Luthor called them, is a complete unknown._

An alert went off on the bio-scanner as the monitor displaying Luthor's vitals started to spike. Before Question could react, Luthor's eyes suddenly opened and he started to scream. "No!"

"Whoa, Lex," Question said, reaching over to calm the man as he struggled against his restraints. "Easy...you're on the Watchtower."

Lex's eyes widened even more in horror. "No...not there." He started to struggle harder against the restraints even as medical personnel came in to assist in stabilizing him. "Please..Question," he managed to choke out as someone shot him with a sedative. "Binary...Binary Fusion...it's going...going..." Lex's eyes started to close and his body started to go limp.

"Wait, what did you say?" Question pushed one of the medtechs aside. "Luthor, are you talking about the Binary Fusion Reactor?"

"Discharge...cannon...Cadmus...headquar-" Luthor's eyes rolled to the back of his head as he lapsed back into unconsciousness.

"Dammit!" Question snarled as he turned and ran out of the medical bay while tapping his earpiece. "J'onn, we have a situation."

"We are already aware of the crisis in Arkham, but there is little we can do-"

"FUCK ARKHAM!" Question yelled as he continued running down the corridor and made his way to a lift. "The Binary Fusion Reactor is about to fire off a salvo at CADMUS headquarters! I don't give a shit what you and your elite little founders club are talking about. I think this is a higher priority." He jumped into an available lift and hit the button for the engineering deck. "I'm heading to Engineering now, Question out." He ignored whatever Martian Manhunter was trying to say and turned off his earpiece. Then he hit the com button the elevator panel.

"This is Question, Aztek, Mr. Terrific, and Steel report to Engineering immediately, we have a level five security breach. I repeat, this a level five security breach."

* * *

Fifteen minutes later, Superman, Batman, and J'onn were talking to Steel while Mr. Terrific and Aztek were reprogramming several data algorithms all at once.

"I was able to rig up a manual failsafe in case they don't fix it in time," Steel explained. "If Question hadn't called us in, this would have been a very different story in another twenty minutes."

"I hate to ask, but how bad could it have been?" Superman asked.

"The entire CADMUS facility would have been taken down to its sub-levels and left a crater about a mile wide and then there would be the damage from the shock wave to the surrounding area." Steel shook his head. "Luthor could have turned the world against us over this, but I don't understand why he gave up this information at the last second."

"Could have been a guilty conscience," Question said with a shrug. "But I'm not entirely certain he was in control of himself when he put this plan into action."

"Even without Brainiac, Luthor probably would have done it anyway," Superman said, giving Question an irritated look.

"Maybe, but CADMUS was too useful of a tool to get rid of this soon," Question countered. "Think about it, Superman. CADMUS, as far as Brainiac was concerned, had outlived their usefulness. Whatever Brainiac had planned, he was about to accomplish it."

"But this 'Case Black' had other plans," Batman said, his eyes narrowing in suspicion as he thought of something. "Taking out Luthor would leave an impression on the world, but I'm not sure if that was their goal."

"What do you mean?" Superman asked.

"You're talking about the deteriorating remains of Brainiac, aren't you, Batman?" Question nodded as the pieces all fell into place for him. "This Case Black wasn't targeting Luthor, they went after Brainiac. But that would mean that they knew about Brainiac, which would be impossible. We didn't even know he was hiding inside Luthor."

"But this Case Black did," Batman said. "And the fact they have access to technology that could destroy Brainiac means that they are more than likely not from this world."

"But most of the alien races we encountered are not capable of defeating Brainiac," J'onn said. "Even Darkseid was not able to defeat Brainiac without assistance."

"I don't think Batman was thinking of an alien invasion, J'onn." Question then looked over at the dark knight. "Your guests here on the station and those two idiots currently running amok at Arkham, they're from another Earth, are they not? What if this Case Black comes from their world?"

"It's possible," Batman admitted. "But we need more proof before we can-"

He was cut off by Flash who suddenly appeared in front of them. "Guys, we got a problem," he said. "Something's going on at CADMUS headquarters, we're getting crazy energy readings going off the charts."

J'onn walked over to a nearby terminal and brought up the live satellite surveillance feed on CADMUS headquarters. "Flash is correct," he said as he studied data flowing on bottom of the screen. "There appears to be a build up of quantum energy similar to that generated by-"

He stopped in mid-sentence when the ground in front of the main CADMUS building exploded. A couple seconds later, a familiar figure crashed back to the ground, burning, his containment suit cracked in several places. A few seconds after that, they all saw an armored figure fly up out of the hole in the ground and land several feet away from the fallen hero. The armored figure then started to approach Captain Atom, practically ignoring the gunfire coming from CADMUS ground troops and the circling helicopters.

"Dammit, we need to get down there," Superman said as he started to fly towards the exit.

"We can't do that, Superman," J'onn said. "CADMUS has authority down there. We go down there, we risk a confrontation and that's what they want."

Superman pointed at the screen. "And if the Captain's suit gets breached, the whole area is going to have a meltdown."

"Point taken," J'onn said as he and the others followed Superman to the command center.

* * *

 _ **Elsewhere...**_

Ace didn't know where she was. All she was aware of was the pain in her chest where she was shot and the look on David's face before he sent her away. She saw pain, grief, and rage in that expression as he told her to live. She didn't even have to concentrate to read his thoughts since he was practically shouting his intentions. He was going to kill everyone at CADMUS headquarters and then proceed to take out every installation they had around the world. If anyone got in his way, he would kill them as well.

"No!" she called out.

But now...she was no longer in that world. She was falling...or was she flying….she wasn't sure. The pain she was feeling was starting to fade as was her consciousness. She was dying...she knew she had maybe a few more minutes before.

Then the world suddenly snapped into focus and she felt her herself hitting the ground. Had she not been wounded, she probably could have landed on her feet. Instead, she ended up curled up in ball, sobbing softly as she felt her life drain out of her body. "No, David," she whimpered, "don't do this..."

She could barely make out voices. She opened her eyes and saw several people surrounding her. On instinct, she let out a psionic pulse, one that would allow her to scan the surface thoughts of multiple targets. Unfortunately, she put out too much power and she saw them all stagger in pain.

Oops.

Then she saw a young woman with long black hair that she recognizes immediately from David's memories. She knew this woman was a friend and would help. With great effort (and quite a bit of pain), Ace managed to get to her feet. "I'm sorry," she weakly rasped as she stumbled forward. "But I had to be sure."

"Who are you?" the woman asked cautiously, though she didn't back away when Ace approached her.

"A friend of David's...you...you're Violet." It was taking all of her effort to focus on talking.

"Yes," the now identified woman replied. "And you are..."

"I'm called Ace...we need...we...need to...go...back...help…." Then her strength gave away completely, her consciousness fading as she dropped to the floor. But before oblivion claimed her, she felt someone holding her.

"Whoa, hold on, we'll do that. But what are you...oh god! Someone get Nigel, we got a girl with multiple gunshot wounds!"

And then the blackness claimed her.


	29. And a Serpent is Brought to the Heavens

**Disclaimer:** JLU, owned by DC and Warner Brothers. Aberrant, owned by Onyx Path/White Wolf. Incredibles, owned by Disney/Pixar. Major Tom originally written by Peter Schilling and covered...by a hell of a lot of different artists.

 ** _Author's note:_** Okay, another chapter posted while working overtime and half drowsy when getting home. As usual, this hasn't been beta'd (though I would love to have a beta reader for this), so if there are errors, I'll try to catch and correct them when a re-read what I post. Honestly, this was supposed to be the second half of the previous chapter, but I ended up doing something else with it. And no, I did NOT bash Batman in this (that's Bomber and Slapstick's job...though I'm sure the Gotham PD won't be able to get rid of the mental image brought on by Slapstick doing a vocal impression of the Joker and screeching "DO ME LIKE A ROBIN!" anytime soon.

As you know, I'm not a big fan of two characters in particular, but I tried not to be too hard on them. But John Stewart always seemed like a pompous asshole half the time and Shayera came across as an arrogant bitch the other half (though I will admit she did ease up later on).

* * *

 _ **CADMUS Headquarters**_

 _ **Santa Fe, New Mexico**_

Captain Atom was dying and he knew it. Though he was pure living quantum energy, he could feel his life fading away as his energy seeped through the multiple mini-fractures in his containment suit. He was so far gone he hardly felt pain as he was blasted up to the surface of the CADMUS facility before landing in a heap in front of the main building.

He heard the roar of thrusters and felt the thump of something heavy landing nearby. He looked up and saw the Monarch armor standing there looking at him. Though it was damaged, it was still functioning and the young man piloting was very much willing to finish this.

"I want you to understand, Captain, that I gave you a chance to walk away," David Flynn said, his voice echoing slightly through the Monarch's speakers. "Just like I gave the Wild Cards a chance to walk away. Though I'll be honest, I was glad they didn't; because I didn't feel like letting a bunch of psychos and a child molester loose." The Monarch took a couple steps forward, raising one of its arms, the gauntlet mounted on it now glowing red as it powered up. "But I was hoping you were smart enough to see reason and walk away. But no...you just had to be a good little soldier, didn't you? Now you get to die like one, I hope you're happy."

Just as David was about to fire, there was a flash of light and he found himself surrounded by several people. He groaned as he identified the newcomers. "Aw, c'mon, really? Now you fucking heroes show up?" He lowered his gauntlet, but kicked Captain Atom in the chest before stepping away, causing the man to cry out in pain. "You stay put, Captain, I'll deal with you shortly."

"Whoever you are, you need to stand down," Superman ordered. He attempted to use his x-ray vision on the armor to look for any weak spots, but was surprised to discover that he couldn't see past the hazy field that seemed to bathe the armor in a faint blue glow.

"Ah, Superman, the boy scout from another planet. You know, now that I've actually met the real you, you're even more lame than the versions I've seen." Inside the armor, David couldn't help smiling as he spoke. "So, let me guess, you just tried to x-ray me, didn't you?" He then looked at the others. "And look, you even brought Flash, Wonder Woman, Batman, Hawkgirl, Green Lantern and...oh, for crying out loud! Tell your Martian friend to stop trying to sneak up on me or I will barbecue him the moment he comes up through the fucking ground behind me!"

Superman's eyes narrowed in suspicion, but he shook his head slightly to signal J'onn to back off. The Martian complied and instead came up through the ground to put himself between Captain Atom and the Monarch armor. "J'onn, what do we have?"

"I can't get a telepathic read on him, Superman," J'onn said as he knelt down to check on Captain Atom. "The Captain's energy is low. It's almost as if he's being drained."

"Drained, then filled back up to above capacity, then drained again," David snickered. "Then there was the added bonus of me kicking is ass up and down the installation. He should have stayed out of the way, but no, he had to try to protect Waller and her people from me. Then again, he's just a stupid soldier following orders. Waller and Eiling bark at him, and he does what he's told."

"You attacked one of our own?" Shayera growled, bringing up her mace.

"One of your own? That's a fucking laugh. Haven't you been listening? He's been working for CADMUS ever since Eiling reactivated his commission in the Air Force." Then David let out a soft cruel chuckle. "But you of all people get that, don't you, Shayera Hol? It's pretty easy to 'follow orders' and betray the ones who called you friend, isn't it?"

Shayera was about to charge at David, but Batman stepped in her way. "Don't do it," he said, shaking his head. "It's what he wants."

"He's just one man in a fancy suit of armor, he's nothing!"

Batman ignored Shayera's outburst and looked directly at David. "I was not aware that CADMUS was able to get the MONARCH armor operational."

"They didn't, Batman, that was me." David didn't bother hiding the venom in his voice as he spoke. "Now I'm going to bury them with it."

"Who are you?" Batman asked as more reinforcements beamed down from the station to flank the Monarch armor.

"Let's just say I'm just some guy from out of town and I want to go home," David replied before looking over his shoulder at the other new arrivals. He caught sight of a familiar looking blond haired girl and was about to attack, but stopped himself. "Oh, wait, you're the original." Then he saw a familiar pink haired young woman wearing jeans, a leather jacket and goggles. His anger gave way to surprise. "Wait...Zoe? Is that really you?"

The pink haired speedster gave him a startled look. "You know me?" she asked.

"I should hope so," David said as the helmet retracted to reveal his face.

"David?"

"Flynn?" This came from Jay who had moved to stand next to Zoe. "What the hell happened to you?" he asked noticing the faint bruising on David's face.

"Had a really bad week," David replied, wondering why his guy seemed familiar to him. "Do I know you?"

"Kind of...but I was a little younger when we met. It's me...Jack...Jack Parr?"

"Whoa, what the hell? How did you end up here? And how long have you been here, exactly?"

"It's a long story," Jay replied. "Would you mind telling me why you're beating the shit out of Captain Atom?"

David couldn't help smiling. "It's a long story," he said echoing Jay's words. Then his smile faded as he turned to look back at Superman. "If I stand down, what happens?"

"We'll take you into custody," J'onn said, cutting off Superman before he could reply. He then looked back to Superman. "It's the best course of action, Superman."

"No!" Everyone turned to see Amanda Waller limping towards them from out of the main building flanked by Deadshot and half a dozen heavily armed soldiers wearing body armor. "That man is a terrorist and this is CADMUS jurisdiction." She then pointed at Zoe. "And I strongly advise you to turn her over as well."

"Um, how about no?" Zoe fired back. "If David is fighting her and her military goons, I'm guessing she's not one of the good guys."

"We are the United States Government," Waller snarled.

"And I rest my case," Zoe smirked.

Amanda ignored her and looked straight at the Man of Steel. "Superman, if you don't turn over Flynn and the girl, I will have no choice but to advise the President that you are a rogue element and are no longer authorized to operate on American soil."

Superman appeared to hesitate and David couldn't help chuckling at the situation. "Oh, this is fucking priceless. I got the clueless spandex set and the psychotic government bitch fighting over me. I wonder who's going to blink first?" He focused his gaze on Superman and didn't bother to hide his disgust. "I'm thinking you'll be the one to cave. After all, your little club cares more about looking heroic than actually having the balls to do what they believe is right." He then gestured at the crumpled form of Captain Atom. "And that makes you even worse than that piece of trash...at least he has a backbone to fight for what he thinks he believes in."

"David, they can help us," Zoe said, surprised at the harsh words coming from her boyfriend. This was a side she rarely saw and she couldn't help shivering slightly in fear as she realized that the tone he was using against Superman was the same kind of tone he used for Utopia and its leaders.

"I'm sure they can, Zoe, but I doubt they will," he said. "After all, they're 'heroes' and they have no choice but to 'obey the laws'." He pointed over his shoulder with his thumb in Waller's direction. "It's why this bitch and her club can get away with playing God and not get nailed for it."

David turned back to reface Waller. "But I'll make this simple for you, Amanda. You let me go with them and you get your chance to run, hide, and maybe even you'll be dumb enough to have the clone try to protect you when I come for you again. If we go the other way, I will finish you, but not before I authorize multiple drone strikes to attack certain targets...one of them being a certain Hilliard Hall at a certain university in Philadelphia. Does the number 321 mean ANYTHING to you?"

To the shock of the Justice League, Amanda Waller's face paled for a moment. "You son of a bitch," she growled. "Do it and-"

"And what, Amanda? You attacked my home, had people I considered family killed, threatened to let Galatea out to demolish the rest of the city, and were willing to use a Kryptonian laced warhead on my town when this operation was concluded. And then there's what you did to Ace...that act alone signed your death warrant as far as I'm concerned. You played your hand, bitch, and now it's my turn."

Then David returned his attention to Superman. "It's your call, Superman. Take me into custody or risk a bloodbath that you and your club will be at ground zero for."

"Tough talk for a punk." Green Lantern snapped.

"Feel free to test me, Stewart. You can't use that ring if your hands aren't attached, remember that."

Lantern looked like he was about to attack, but a glare from Superman stopped him in his tracks. He also heard a slight giggle and glared at Zoe who wasn't even bothering to hide her amusement.

"And what guarantee do we have that you'll come along quietly?" Superman asked, ignoring the glaring contest between Green Lantern and the pink haired speedster.

Instead of answering, David closed his eyes for a moment and the Monarch armor started to open up, part of it retracting into itself which allowed David to step out of it. Once he was out of the armor, it reformed and closed back up, the ZP Gauntlets on the armor's forearms dimming to a faint blue glow. He then put his arms out in front of him as if offering to be handcuffed.

"That good enough for you?"

* * *

 _ **The Watchtower**_

 _ **Conference Room**_

"I take it the President isn't happy with us?" John Stewart asked the other members seated around the conference table.

"He said that Waller made several valid points, but he was more than willing to give us the benefit of a doubt," J'onn replied. "I also think he agreed with our decision because this David Flynn managed to savage their headquarters from within. They've been forced to evacuate the facility and relocate, which means they don't currently have the resources available to detain him."

"That's good," Flash said as he gestured at the video footage of the Arkham situation being projected by the holo-projectors over the table. "But what about the Arkham situation?"

"CADMUS has declared jurisdiction there as well," Batman replied. It was hard to miss the obvious irritation in his voice as he spoke. "I'm willing to let them handle it for now, but that will change when the escaped inmates enter my city."

"If there are any inmates left," Wonder Woman said. "The way these two are tearing through the inmates, I don't think there will be very many survivors in your rogues gallery, Bruce."

Batman didn't bother hiding his annoyance. "The FCC has been trying to shut down the public access channels they are using to broadcast, but someone is managing to bypass them." He didn't mention that he also had Oracle attempting to hack their signal, but he suspected that she was only doing a halfhearted job since the two "guests" at Arkham were making life hell for the Joker.

Sadly, he really couldn't blame the young woman, but he hoped she could push aside her personal feelings and focus on the objective. He then had the holo-projector shift from the Arkham feed to display a new image, the Monarch armor that was currently being kept in secured lab.

"My concern is the fact that Waller and her people were able to get this monstrosity working," he said.

"Yeah, about that, what is it exactly?" Stewart asked, curiosity replacing the scowl that had become a normal expression for him ever since they brought Zoe Kilmarten on board almost a week ago.

"And why were you so reluctant to face off against it?" Shayera added. "If I didn't know any better, I would almost say you may have showed a little fear."

"Call it what you want, but that THING is not just 'a fancy set of armor'," Batman said. "As for what it is, it's actual designation is Mobile Nano Reactive Combat Hardsuit, otherwise known as the Monarch. To put it bluntly, it was designed to kill us. Originally based off one of Luthor's old battle-suits, it incorporates technology they developed or managed to reverse engineer from all the alien technology they salvaged or confiscated in the last few years."

As he spoke, various part of the three dimensional projection lit up and tiny text windows opened to display data regarding the technology identified.

"It would appear, using what they salvaged of Doctor Ivo's work and Apokolips technology, they were able to create a crude form of nano-technology that emulated the Dark Heart organism and even some of the shape-shifting properties of the Imperium. I think they were trying to create something similar to the Annihilator to use as powered armor."

Diana couldn't suppress the slight shudder at that thought and noticed the shocked looks on the faces of the others. Even Batman's expression became more grim than usual. "But something like that would acquire a lot of power," she said. "And not even Luthor has technology capable of that...at least not yet."

"Until now," Batman said as the image zoomed in on the gauntlets on the armor. "This technology is new and not consistent with what CADMUS had been developing. After our brief discussion with our newest guest, I'm going to say that he's responsible for their latest advancement and that it wasn't willing."

The holographic image shifted again to display their latest guess lying on his bed in a detention cell, singing softly to himself. "Earth below us...drifting...falling...floating weightless….calling home..."

"That song, what is it?" Superman asked.

"Unknown," J'onn J'onzz replied. "I suspect it's a song from his Earth."

"And who exactly is this punk?"

J'onn shook his head at Green Lantern's question. "That 'punk' is capable of blocking my attempts to telepathically scan his mind. As for who he is," he paused as more data windows popped up, "David Pine Flynn, age 19. Known abilities, super-intelligence, enhanced strength and reflexes that put him somewhere around three to five times that of a human in peak condition. From what little intel Batman was able to get from CADMUS, he managed to escape twice from his captors and killed quite a few people, including members of the former Royal Flush gang."

"Perhaps Waller was right," Shayera mused, "maybe he is a terrorist."

Flash shot her a look. "Zoe doesn't seem to think so."

"Of course she wouldn't," Stewart sneered. "She works for him and he is her boyfriend."

Flash finally had enough of this. "Okay, that's it! John, what the hell is your problem? You know how dangerous CADMUS is and you know they aren't exactly truthful with us. For crying out loud, they tried to nuke an ENTIRE island we were trying to evacuate the civilians off of just to take out Doomsday AND Superman. They didn't give a damn about anyone else there or how much damage their Kryptonite laced warhead would have done had it hit their target."

"Wally-" Shayera started to say in an attempt to calm the Flash down, but he cut her off.

"And you," Flash continued as he pointed at her. "You of all people shouldn't be jumping to conclusions. I'll be honest with you, Shayera. When your people attacked and you initially sided with them, I felt betrayed because you were one of my best friends. But I was willing to give you the benefit of a doubt because I knew you had been duped by your own people and helped us when you realized that your people were willing to kill billions of innocents just to get a strategic military advantage. So forgive me if I don't understand why you automatically want to brand this guy, Zoe, and Jay as hostile enemies."

"Maybe I'd be inclined to think differently if they didn't dismiss us as jokes and actually gave us some respect."

"Is that what this is about, John?" Flash asked. "You got your panties in a knot because they come from a world where we're fictional characters? Don't you think that's kind of hypocritical given what we went through with the Justice Guild's world awhile back? And yeah, I know what you're going to say...you're going to argue that we're real and that this is different, just like last time. And maybe you're right. But it doesn't change the fact that we ARE fictional characters in their world and some of us haven't given them good reason to think otherwise."

Diana had remained mostly silent during the meeting, but finally decided to speak up. "You also have to consider the possibility that they come from a world that might be a darker place than own."

"I'm not sure I'd go that far, Diana," said Superman. "Our world is quite messed up."

"Yes, but we're here to at least try to keep it stable and going. Something tells me their world is a far more cynical and darker one. You all heard what Zoe told us about her world."

"And again, I'm not sure if we can fully take that as the truth, even if J'onn said she was being truthful," Stewart grumbled. "At best, she is a biased witness."

"Well there is another option," Batman said, drawing everyone's attention to him as he pointed at the holographic image of their prisoner. "We could just talk to him."

* * *

 _ **Watchtower Detention Center**_

David started to slowly pace around in his cell, figuring it might alleviate the boredom the poor souls monitoring him on the video feed were probably feeling after seeing him just lie on the bed and sing to himself. His face broke out in a grin as he looked directly at one of the cameras. "Hey, would it make for interesting viewing if I decided to jack off in front of the camera?"

"Please don't," said a female voice that he recognized, tensing slightly into a defensive posture as he turned around but relaxed as he saw the young blond haired woman wearing a familiar S on her costume.

"Damn," he said, resuming a more relaxed posture. "It's scary how much you look like that bitch, and yet...not...at the same time." Then he shook his head. "Sorry, Supergirl, let's just say your evil twin with the extra large assets left a lasting impression and it wasn't a good one."

"I kind of picked up on that when you looked like you were about to attack and then stopped and said that I was the 'original'," Kara said, giving him a tiny smirk.

"Well, at the risk of sounding sexist, I just want to say the original is better than the sequel."

Kara shook her head. "Damn, you are a piece of work, you know that?"

"So I've been told more than a few times in my life," David shot back. "So, quick question, Supergirl...or should I call you Kara?"

Kara shrugged. "Whatever works for you, I'm not picky."

"You know, the versions I'm familiar with don't do you justice. Half the time, you're an obnoxious emo girl angry at the world and some air-headed clueless blond the other half whining about living in the shadow of her cousin. So which version is the most accurate?"

"Obnoxious...sometimes, clueless...depends on the situation. If I'm trying to figure out the legalese of a charter agreement that says which country we can and can't go to because of some obscure UN regulation...then yeah, I'm clueless. But I'm not so clueless to not notice the fact you only made those comments to see what kind of reaction you would get out of me. Though I think you laid it on too thick with the whole 'living in the shadow of her cousin' bit."

David laughed. It was an honest laugh devoid of derision or sadistic amusement. "And she fires it right back at me without blinking. I can see why your cousin and his little club sent you in to talk to me."

"They figure since Zoe likes me, I might have a chance talking to you without the hostility despite the fact my presence seems to put you into 'I'm gonna' kill something' battle mode before you realize it's me. But I'm going to let that slide since it's Galatea and CADMUS." Kara's amusement faded slightly before she continued. "Look, I know you come from a world where we're a fictional joke, but we can help you."

David's expression softened a little. "And if you were one of the people in charge, Kara, I know you would more than likely help us, but it's not your call." He his gaze then shifted to look over her shoulder as he focused on a shadowy corner. "Isn't that right, Batman?"

Gotham's Dark Knight stepped out of the shadows. "No, but you shouldn't just simply dismiss us either." Batman then looked over at Kara. "Get Kilmarten and Robertson," he ordered. "Maybe they can talk some sense into him." Seeing the young woman hesitate, he added, "Please, Kara."

Reluctantly, Kara left the room and Batman ordered the computer to lock down all outside access and to put all video and audio monitoring devices in stand-by mode. David was about to let out a quip, but Batman held up a hand in warning before reaching into his utility belt to pull out a small disc shaped device that he dropped on a floor. A few moments later, it glowed a faint green color and let out a barely audible hum. "Noise field generator," he told David. "Having been recently compromised by CADMUS, I don't trust anyone."

"Damn, you can be as paranoid as the comics portrayed you." David tilted his head to one side and smiled as he noticed the containment field to his cell began to power down. "Oh, is this the part where you come in and beat the shit out of me for a couple minutes to get answers?"

The Dark Knight just stood there. "Allison Sinclair," he said.

"What about her?" David asked, surprised that Batman actually managed to dig up Ace's real name.

"She wasn't at the facility when we arrived and I caught most of what you said to Waller. What did Waller do?"

David let out a soft sigh and leaned against the wall of his cell. Of all the questions Batman could have asked, why did it have to be this one? "She shot Aly, Batman," he said, shaking his head in remorse. "I thought I had everything planned out. An escape, a way to get home, and I was going to take her with me. Waller knew that and realized Aly was my weakest link before I did."

"She tends to be good at that," Batman said. "I went through what limited data we were able to recover and, according to CADMUS' files, you are your world's equivalent of Lex Luthor."

David couldn't help laughing bitterly at that. "Oh, that's just rich...and I could see why people on this world would think that. But if I'm the Lex Luthor of my world, then you really don't want to see what passes for Superman over there."

"Caestus Pax."

"Ah, someone at CADMUS actually paid attention...no...wait, I take that back. I'm guessing you got that from Zoe."

The corners of Batman's mouth twitched slightly with the barest hint of a smile. "Her cellphone has an interesting video clip of you facing off against him over a supply convoy in Mexico. She has it saved in her favorites along with videos of you attempting to snowboard."

David's eyes widened in horror. "Oh god! Please tell me you deleted that."

"Why? I think you did the right thing regarding Pax if Miss Kilmarten's version of events was true."

"Not that, I'm talking about the snowboarding!" Then David shook his head again. "Nevermind, let's get back to the part where you grill me for information."

"Did you kill all those people at CADMUS as Waller claims?"

"Ah, so now we're getting to the nasty part of the conversation," David said taking a step away from the wall. "Yeah, Batman, it's true, all of it. I killed a bunch of CADMUS personnel, most of their supers that they had in residence, and I plan on killing Galatea once I get the chance. They all have a lot to answer for." He paused and noticed that Batman was still standing there. "What? You're not going to snap, charge forward, throw me against the wall, bash my head into about four random objects, and snarl about me being a monster before demanding more information out of me?"

"Not necessary," Batman said. "So what did you do with Ace's body?"

"Don't know. She's probably buried in the rubble somewhere."

"Now I know you're lying."

David let out another resigned sigh. "Yeah, fine, I'm lying. But they're not going to find her...I just hope..." His voice trailed off and he closed his eyes for a moment, willing the tears not to form. "I hope someone was there on the other side when she got there."

Batman's eyes narrowed at that. "You sent her to your world, didn't you?"

"Yes I did, along with the device we had. I then purged all the data they had in their network on how to get to my world. I'm sure they might have back-ups somewhere, but it's going to take some time for them to get those operational." David then tapped his own forehead. "That data is now only available here."

"Why?"

"Well, duh! Because I don't want them coming to my world. Are you sure you're the world's greatest detective?"

"Why did you spare Ace? She was CADMUS and she was probably the most dangerous weapon in their arsenal."

"Because it wasn't right!" David snapped. "Because of her abilities, she was an asset, a weapon, but she was just a fucking kid! A little girl who was ripped away from her family and turned into a weapon." Then David's voice faltered as his own personal memories came to the forefront. "Because I know what it's like to have that happen. That could have just as easily been me."

"Doesn't change what you've done since you've been brought to our world."

"And what was I supposed to do, Batman? They came to MY world, attacked MY home, killed some of MY people just to abduct me, and then spent the last several days torturing me for information. I don't know about you, but I'm not one to simply sit there and say 'Thank you sir, may I have another?'. Sorry, I'm just not that kind of person." David sat back down on the edge of his bed. "So what happens now?"

"For the moment, we'll be holding you here. We currently have the Monarch in lockdown and we also have one of those portal devices courtesy of Ms. Kilmarten."

"Ah, so it looks like you might be able to find a way to send us home."

"It's only a matter of time," Batman said. "But I'm afraid that we'll have to keep you here until we can send you and the others back."

David yawned a little and stretched out his arms. "Well, good luck with that," he said. "I have no doubt you'll figure it out, but I've got some plans for the next week. And while I will admit your detention cell is a lot more comfy than CADMUS, I think I might have to decline."

"It's not like you have a choice," Barman said. "I am aware of your abilities and we have taken precautions."

David smirked at the man. "Damn, you really got me figured out, don't you, Bruce?"

"If that's an attempt to intimidate me, you're failing miserably."

"True, after all, I'm talking to a guy who probably has plans to take down every member of the Justice League if they ever went rogue."

Though he didn't flinch, there was a fraction of a moment's hesitation before the Batman spoke. "And how would you know that?"

"Oh, I could say it was documented in the comics back home, but I'm just thinking that it's something I would do if I was in your position." David yawned again. "And as much as I'd liked to spend the next few hours talking shop with you, I really need to get some rest. Like I said, I've got some plans for later this week and I need to get ready for them."

"Do you really think that you can escape from here?" Batman asked.

"Oh, I know I can, but I won't have to, Bats. You see, Waller knows I'm up here. You also have her latest toy." David gave the Dark Knight a sly grin. "Did you know that they were originally going to put Captain Atom in that suit? It not only would have fed off the excess quantum he bleeds out to power it, but it also would have amplified his abilities. I have to admit, it's an impressive design for something that was thrown together so quickly. I doubt Waller will let the situation remain like it is. She's invested too much in this project of hers, and it's also cost her." Then David's grin turned a little more sinister. "And I intend to make it a butcher's bill for her when I'm done."

Then his mood suddenly changed and his evil grin disappeared just as the security measures to the detention cell reactivated and the lighting returned to normal.

"Aw, it looks like our chat session has ended," he said, frowning slightly. The door to the detention area opened to reveal Supergirl, Jay, and Zoe standing there. "Hey guys," David cheerfully greeted them, "thanks for coming by. Bats and I were just finishing up."

Batman didn't say anything. Instead he just glared at David for a few more seconds before turning to walk away.

"Batman," David called out just as the Dark Knight had walked past the three people entering the room. He stopped, but didn't look back. "Waller's just the immediate threat. You might want to look into what projects Maxwell Lord is involved with and who he answers to."

Batman didn't say anything, but he didn't like the sense of ominous dread he was starting to feel. A moment later, he pushed it aside and exited the detention area. His conversation with Flynn bothered him, but not for the usual reasons. While the young man revealed some rather disturbing information, it was what he didn't say that bothered Batman even more. David Flynn's mannerisms and attitude did come off as flippant at times, but Batman knew it was mostly a mask...a mask that he was very familiar with whenever Bruce Wayne looked back at him from a mirror. David Flynn was not an arrogant and flippant young man; he was a calculating weapon who was focused on an objective and that objective was Amanda Waller and CADMUS.

And it would be a bloodbath if Flynn and Waller's paths crossed again.

Batman also realized that David Flynn was right about something else: Amanda Waller and CADMUS would do anything to get Flynn and the Monarch armor back.


	30. Two Devils Below and A Serpent Above

**Disclaimer:** Aberrant, owned by Onyx Publishing. Incredibles, owned by Pixar/Disney. JLU, owned by WB/DC comics. "American Psycho" written and performed by Treble Charger.

 **Author's Notes:** Okay, I'm back and this insanity continues. Also working on a chapter to the original fic "WoA: Defiance and Resurrection". Anyway, we'll be getting these two crazy bastards out of Arkham and into Gotham proper soon. And no, Bomber and Slapstick are not heroes on their world (so stop asking me that question in PM or email). They are MERCENARIES who are practically unkillable (I'm talking Vandal Savage level here). Okay, as for the music being used by Bomber and Slapstick, I'm looking for some of the most bizarre or warped songs made from the last few decades that will fit the mood. "American Psycho" just sounds appropriate (even though Jean's not American).

* * *

 _What's the problem with the human race  
With someone like you  
No matter where I turn  
I can't escape your double face  
Don't want to listen to the radio  
Cause they don't know  
Or stick around just to hear I told you so  
How could we make it without you  
I should have known better to doubt you  
I thought I'd heard the end of it_

 _And now I know how far you'd go_  
 _To be the next freak show_  
 _American psycho_  
 _Cover of the magazines_  
 _Patron Saint to troubled teens_  
 _Wish I never heard your name_

 ** _*The static fades away to reveal the remains of Arkham's cafeteria and two men standing among the rubble, singing along to "American Psycho" by Treble Charger surrounded by several bodies of dead and dying Arkham inmates. One of them is carrying a sledge hammer while the other man has a sword in one hand and a handgun in the other.*_**

Bomber: "Hey everyone, and welcome to our show!"

Slapstick: "FIRE IT UP! FIRE IT UP! FIRE IT UP! OW! Jean, why did you hit me?"

Bomber: "Dude, we're on the air!"

Slapstick: "Oh, we are? Hey everyone...don't mind the mess, we're only responsible for half the carnage."

Bomber: "Anyway, welcome to a special edition of Bomber's Bay, comin' to you straight outta' Arkham, I'm your host, Jean-Paul Renard also known as Bomber and my more psychotic asshole friend here is Nicholas DeYorke, otherwise known as Slapstick."

Slapstick: "Um, Jean, we're not from this world, so they don't know us or the show."

Bomber: "Think of this as a pilot episode for a new market."

Slapstick: "Huh...that actually makes sense. Damn, more of Joker's goons are showing up. I'll take care of 'em while you explain to the audience out there what's going on."

 ** _*Slapstick goes off camera and several gunshots are heard followed by multiple screams while Slapstick can be heard singing Frank Sinatra's "My Way". A cry for mercy can be heard before silenced by a gunshot. Bomber shrugs and shakes his head.*_**

Bomber: "Damn, you think they should know better about coming at us after we killed the last few dozen guys Joker's sent after us. But you know what, we're getting off track here. Anyway, I'm sure those of you who have been watching and listening have been enjoying the show, but I figure we should at least introduce ourselves. We're a couple guys from...let's just say we're not from around here. We ended up being dumped in Gotham City, ran afoul of a criminal operation that ended up with us killing everyone there and blowing up the warehouse. Then we got caught by the Batman who decided it would be cool to throw us in Arkham. While we were here, someone tried to have us killed during our first meal and that didn't turn out well...for the guys who tried to kill us. Then those same people, we suspect, sent some wannabe black-ops team to kill us...that didn't go well either. Then, SOMEHOW, an event was arranged for Joker to get out of his cell and orchestrate a takeover. Needless to say, we didn't like that."

Slapstick **_(walking back on the_** **scene _)_** : "Nope...didn't like it at all."

Bomber: "Anyway, Joker, who will soon be known as 'the guy who really fucked up his own life so badly that death will be considered a sweet release if we choose to allow it', decided to have us killed because we didn't want to turn his property over to him."

Slapstick: "Dude, she's NOT property!"

Bomber: "I know that, you know that, she knows that, but 'horizontal ass-crack smiley shit-face' doesn't. We told him to go fuck himself and he, being the cowardly shit that he is, has been sending waves of idiot minions after us while he jacks off in the command center and dreams of getting his ass creamed by Batman."

 ** _*The sound of someone spewing water and choking can be heard in the background*_**

Slapstick: "Oh god...damn you, Jean...that wasn't cool."

 ** _*Bomber just grins at the camera*_**

Bomber: "At the moment, we're just groovin' to the retro hits we discovered on now deceased Arkham Director Tate's L-Phone as we kill and slaughter our way to where Joker is hiding and more likely playing with himself. We've also released most of the Arkham personnel we liberated as well as the inmates who are smart enough to realize they don't want to play with us. To the asshole SWAT commander out there, you keep your people away. To Harvey Bullock, we say that you should order a pizza and a beer and keep watching the show, it's going to get interesting. To Batman, I promise we won't kill the Joker. To Joker, just stay put, we'll get to you eventually and you will be begging us to break our promise to Batman. And, finally, to one of the people who sent a second-rate hit team to kill us…one General Wade Eiling…when we get out of here, we'll be coming for you next."

Slapstick: "Oh wait...before we go, we have a shout out for one more person."

Bomber: "One more? Who...oh yeah! We forgot about a certain red-haired hacker in a wheelchair who is doing her best to block our transmission."

Slapstick: "That's right...Barbie G, this night is dedicated to you!"

Bomber: "Well, we got more company comin', so enjoy the show folks...oh, and BG, don't leave town. We have a present for you."

Slapstick: "Jean, Joker's next wave is here."

 ** _*In the background, "American Psycho" continues to play as Bomber swings his sledge hammer at a charging Arkham inmate, impacting the_ _other man_ _in the chest, knocking them off their feet and slamming them into the ground. Slapstick throws a crowbar at another Arkham inmate, impaling them in the shoulder; he then swings out with his sword and decapitates his opponent.*_**

 _Primadonna self absorbed  
Wide awake and never bored  
Party binge and purge, And see  
results of plastic surgery  
Spotted at the hottest shows  
Interview on Charlie Rose  
They all want a piece of you_

 _And now I know how far you'd go_  
 _To be the next freak show_  
 _American psycho_  
 _Cover of the magazines_  
 _Patron Saint to troubled teens_  
 _Wish I never heard your name_

 _They all want to know_  
 _How far you had to go_  
 _and I already know_  
 _How far you had to go!_

 _ ***picture fades to black displaying a neon green question mark logo with bold text saying "Stay Tuned...More to Come.***_

* * *

 **Gothm SCU Mobile Command Center**

 **Arkham Asylum**

In the twenty years he put in the Gotham PD, Harvey Bullock could honestly claim he had seem some really weird shit. Riots, Arkham escapees, terrorist attacks, and even the occasional alien invasion...but these last few hours definitely made it to the top of his "Weird Shit I Lived Through And Still Can't Believe" list. He was also certain that all the other members of the GCPD currently on-site probably felt the same as well…except for Brocton Shaw who was beginning to act like a petulant child who was being ordered to stay still

Much to the chagrin of Brockton Shaw, everyone was ordered to stay back behind their established perimeter and allow a government response team move in. That alone had Harvey wondering what the hell was going on. It was bad enough that the Joker had taken over the asylum, but this was the first time the US government actually stepped in and literally told the Gotham PD to stay the hell out. This made Bullock wonder if the claims made by Renard and DeYorke about being from another world might be true.

While they waited for the government officials to arrive, the really crazy shit started. Explosions and gunfire could be heard from the asylum, but it was the video feed that was now somehow being streamed to several online public access channels that got everyone's attention as Renard and DeYorke proceeded to tear through various Arkham inmates.

Joker's attempts to communicate with the outside world were cut off by the antics of "Bomber and Slapstick", one of them being very good at doing dead-on vocal impersonations of Joker and Batman doing some very interesting things to each other. And then there was the video footage of the two of them, along with Harley Quinn, singing and dancing along to 80s and 90s music while they beat the shit out of any inmates who tried to attack them.

 _If I have to hear "The Safety Dance" one more time I swear I'm gonna' shoot someone,_ he thought to himself.

Then the flow of Arkham residents and personnel coming out of the facility began. The Arkham employees had told the GCPD task force that the they were released once "Bomber and Slapstick" liberated their area from Joker's crew. The inmates who fled were those who just wanted to get the hell out of there because they didn't want to get caught in the war between the Joker and the "two assholes he pissed off". Quite a few of them remembered what those two had done in the cafeteria a few days earlier and they did not want to see what Renard and DeYorke were going to do for an encore. Some of the local news outlets were already broadcasting clips from what had been dubbed by the media as the "Arkham Madhouse Party" and streaming the footage that was also ending up on the internet. The few times Joker managed to get through to talk to the outside world, he was cut off by some lewd comments and informed that more of his guys were killed and that he was "going to have company really soon".

As Shaw bitched about the situation not "going by the book" and was trying to give out orders to make himself look impressive by preparing to suck up to the arriving military commander, Harvey couldn't help thinking about how Renard and DeYorke were handling the situation. Yes, their tactics were brutal, crude, and maybe even a little over dramatic, but he could also see what they were actually doing.

 _Shaw thinks these guys are just a couple of whack jobs and he might be right, but you would think that someone with his military background would recognize the tactics these two are using. They've managed to cut off Joker's access to the outside world and are taking out his support. They're not afraid of the clown and they are backing him into a corner. If they actually got Harley Quinn siding with them, then she is probably feeding them intel about Joker...if she's not plotting to stab them in the back. They've managed to acquire weapons and resources and put Joker on the defensive. He's not used to fighting people who are not afraid of him and aren't Batman._

And now that Bomber and Slapstick had released their "public introduction", things were starting to fall into place for Harvey, especially with Renard's final comments near the end.

 _They mentioned General Wade Eiling, and he's the man who is heading this special task force that is supposed to "assist" us. He was already on his way when that message went out; does that mean he might know more about these two than he claims?_

His phone rang, vibrating in his coat pocket. He turned the sound off because he didn't want to attract Shaw's attention right away. He pulled out the phone and answered it. "Bullock."

"Harvey, how's it going out there, buddy?" There was a pause and a couple gunshots were heard in the background before DeYorke's voice came back. "Sorry about that, a couple of morons just tried to sneak up on us through the vents. Wait...hold on a sec….Jean, where the hell did they get a chainsaw? Yeah...man...keep it, we'll need it later when we meet the clown….oh, sorry, Harvey. You won't believe some of the weird shit people are finding here in this allegedly 'high security' institution. It's like some crazy video game creator went nuts and created this place for our twisted amusement."

"Tell me about it," Harvey grumbled. "Okay, so why are you calling me again?"

"Oh, you know, just staying in touch. I also want to let you you know that we intend to be blowing out of here after we have a little chat with Smiley Ass-Crack Boy of the albino persuasion."

"Shit, not a good idea," Bullock warned him. "The government is sending in a military ops team to take you down. I'd urge you to surrender, because this Eiling guy...he's the one the US government sends in to deal with super powered threats and it usually means 'gun them down and bag 'em for dissection later'."

"Sorry, Harv, we can't do that and we already know about Eiling. Trust me, we can handle him. We're beyond surrendering here, we know too much. It's not just us they want dead, Jimmy Olsen is now a target; hell, the first team was going to kill him and make it look like we did it."

"Shit," Harvey hissed, shaking his head in disbelief. "Well, I don't know how you're gonna' get out of there. Eiling and his goons will be here soon...fuck that, they're here already. Their choppers are here. Listen, you might want to stop calling me." He paused as he noticed Shaw starting to approach him and then changed his tone. "Look, baby, I'd love to do all those things to you, but I'm on the job at the moment."

There was a pause at the other end for a moment. "Let me guess, Caprain Idiot is there, isn't he?"

Bullock managed to put a stupid grin on his face and say. "Uh-huh, you do that, baby...and I'll bring the cherry glaze."

"Ooh, Harvey, you dirty animal," DeYorke laughed. "Okay, we'll contact you once we're out."

Harvey closed his phone and gave Shaw a sheepish look. "Sorry, Candy is a little upset I had to cancel."

Shaw shook his head in disgust. "You people are a disgrace to the department," he sneered before he stalked off to head outside the command center and greet General Eiling.

"Fucking prick," Harvey grumbled under his breath before returning his attention to one of the monitors displaying the live feed coming from the Asylum.

* * *

 _ **The Watchtower**_

 _ **Somewhere in Earth Orbit**_

 _ **Detention Cell 7**_

"Okay, let me get this straight," David said as he pulled up the chair in his cell and sat down across from Jay and Zoe who were standing on the other side of the containment field. "Divis Mal is your grandfather."

"That would be correct," Jay said.

David threw back his head and laughed out loud. "Aw, man, that explains a lot! Now I know why Dash is such a drama queen and why he attacked me that night. I take it this is the big bad secret that Violet was trying to avoid letting slip out?"

"Pretty much."

David couldn't help snickering at that revelation. "And Dash thinks he has to right to judge others based on who they're related to? This is fucking priceless. However, I still don't get why Mal sent you here."

"He said it was to help you," Jay said, scowling slightly. "What he didn't tell me was that he was blasting me backwards nearly seventy years into the past in this world."

"Well," Zoe said as she playfully poked one of Jay's arms. "You're perfectly well preserved for a senior citizen."

"Not helping, Zoe," Jay grumbled, swatting Zoe's hand away. Then his expression became more serious. "I take it you got pulled through a portal as well, David?"

A dark look crossed David's face. "More like abducted, Jack. That was their goal all along. The other attacks on Metroville...all a smoke screen just to...to..."

He bowed his head slightly, trying to hold back the bile starting to form in the back of his throat as images of dead friends lying on the floor of SST flashed through his mind.

"David, what happened?" Zoe asked.

David was about to tell her what had happened, but couldn't bring himself to do it. The pain of seeing close friends killed like that was still raw. Instead, he pushed it aside and said, "They wanted weapons, Zoe, and that's why they targeted me."

"But how did they know about you?" Jay asked, a thoughtful look on his face as he mentally tried to piece things together. "To even know about our world, they must have done some early reconnaissance."

"They did. Jack. They accidentally stumbled across it while trying to reverse engineer various technologies they confiscated." David didn't bother hiding his disgust as he continued. "If the so called Justice League actually did their job, CADMUS wouldn't have gotten away with this and Waller would be behind bars or dead."

"To be fair, David, their world isn't quite as far gone as ours is," Jay said. "But I see your point. Apparently, I'm considered a threat by certain members of the League because I hadn't joined up with their club from the beginning."

"Yeah, and to make matters worse, the Green Douche decided to call in some of his fellow douches because we were, get this, a 'threat to the planet and the galaxy that had to be contained'," Zoe added.

"Figures," David snorted humorlessly. "How much you want to bet he's probably one of the assholes watching and listening to us talk?" He then looked directly at the camera in his cell. "Superman, I know you and your fellow founders are watching us. Why don't you come down here and talk to me directly? Or is Batman the only one with the balls to do so?"

Jay rolled his eyes. "Damn, Dash was right, you are an asshole."

"Only to other assholes, and your brother does qualify as one."

"Okay, point taken."

The door to the detention area opened and Superman entered the room flanked by Martian Manhunter and Green Lantern with Shayer Hol following up from behind.

"Ah," David said as he stood up out of his chair set it aside. "And so the real interrogation session begins."

"Shut up, punk," John Stewart growled. He then looked over at Zoe and Jay. "You two can leave."

"I think not," Jay said while Zoe just gave Stewart the middle finger instead of verbally responding.

"It's okay, Jack," David said. "See if you and Zoe can snag me a mocha or something from the cafeteria. They're not going to do anything to me." He then turned his attention to Superman and sneered, "After all they're just...'heroes'."

"Damn, you really don't like these guys," Jay said before gently grabbing Zoe by the arm. "C'mon, Zoe, lets go grab some more caffeine."

"But-" Zoe started to say, but David cut her off.

"It'll be okay, Zoe," he assured her. "Come back in about fifteen minutes, this won't take long."

Zoe reluctantly let Jay take her out of the detention area, leaving David alone with the four Justice League members. For several seconds, silence filled the room as David and the four glared at each other. After making an observation, David grinned at them.

 _So it's the boy scout, the Martian, the winged bitch, and the green douche bag...this is going to be fun._

"Interesting," he said, trying not to smirk too much as he noticed the angry glare coming from Green Lantern.

"Would mind enlightening us as to what has you so amused?" J'onn J'onnz asked.

David chuckled and shook his head. "Nothing, it's just this weird observation I just made. I find it interesting that Batman, Flash, and Wonder Woman…those who are actually from Earth...are suspiciously absent and it's the aliens who want to grill me."

"I'm from Earth," Green Lantern snapped.

"Some would argue that Detroit doesn't count, Stewart, but that would be an insult to the good people that do actually live there. Unfortunately, they're being represented by an asshole who prefers to suck the cock of an intergalactic peace keeping force and bowing to their will instead." He then gestured at Shayera. "You two really should get back together since you both have something in common. You're both arrogant, hard headed, think you're in the right, and you turn your back on your own people. To be fair, though, at least Stewart hasn't inadvertently assisted in the possible destruction of a planet...yet."

Shayera growled menacingly as she brought up her mace while Stewart started to walk towards the cell. "Brave words for a punk hiding behind a security field."

David smirked at the man. "Tell you what, Stewart. Take off that ring, lower the security field, and try to show this 'punk' his place. I think you'll be a little surprised with the results once you wake up on life support. Now if it were Batman, that would be a different story but he's not here."

Superman stepped between Green Lantern and David's cell. "Flash and Wonder Woman are keeping an eye on your two friends here while Batman has returned to Gotham to deal with the two other visitors from your world."

David nodded and chuckled. "Ah, yes, Bomber and Slapstick, I understand they're having fun down there. If it will make Batman feel any better, tell him that those two probably won't be gunning for him, but they will go out of their way to embarrass him if he interferes with their fun."

"Their 'fun' involves killing several inmates at Arkham and broadcasting it to the public," Stewart growled, his eyes glowing more intensely for a moment before returning to their normal dull green.

David shrugged his shoulders. "And this is supposed to surprise me? Look, you're talking about a couple of guys who go to Africa every summer and hunt warlords for fun and profit. Hell, people pay a shitload of money just to watch their live streaming show during those weeks."

"Your world sounds barbaric," Shayera snapped.

"Wow, pretty rich coming from someone whose race wanted to destroy Earth just to create an intergalactic expressway for their military endeavors," David fired back. "Oh yeah, I read those files too. You'd be surprised what I liberated from CADMUS' archives." Then he smiled again. "Then again, the whole world will be surprised."

"What do you mean by that?" J'onn asked, trying to once again scan the prisoner's mind and getting nothing but static.

David smiled at the Martian. "Ah, J'onn J'onzz, you still trying to get into my head? You really shouldn't do that, it's impolite. But in answer to your question, let's just say that sometime, in the very near future, a lot of people are going to be pissed off when they learn what has been going on behind the scenes and what has been kept from them. I'm particularly curious about how they'll react when they learn about why CADMUS was created and the whole thing regarding the Justice Lords and other things you haven't been quite honest about."

"And how do you intend to accomplish that when you're stuck up here?" sneered Stewart.

"Poor Green Lantern, you're so sure of the situation, aren't you?" David reached up with one hand and gently dragged a finger across the containment field of his cell, studying the faint sparks that brushed against his fingertips. "After all, I'm contained in this little cell, guarded by this energy field and being monitored by countless security measures…I suppose I really can't blame you for being so fucking complacent."

"Could you at least ditch the attitude for a moment and answer some simple questions?" Superman asked.

"Fine," David sighed, rolling his eyes slightly. "What do you want to know, exactly, Superman?"

"What do you have against us? Believe it or not, we really are trying to help you."

David glanced around his cell before tapping the containment field with his finger, causing it to ripple for a moment. "Funny way of showing it. I mean, I could understand locking me up because I can be a danger."

"You ARE a danger," Stewart interjected, "as are the others from your world."

"Thank you for your opinion, Mr. Stewart, now kindly shut the fuck up and let me answer Superman's question," David said before returning his attention to Superman. "As for what I have against you people, Superman, I could say that it's because you're fictional characters in my world and that it's hard to take you seriously; but that would be a lie. It's because your all-around naivety and incompetence pretty much allowed people from your world to attack mine."

"That's rich coming from someone who murdered a bunch of CADMUS personnel," Stewart snapped. "We saw the video footage we were able to gather from CADMUS."

"No, you only saw the footage CADMUS allowed you to walk away with."

"Doesn't matter, we saw what you did in there, not just to Captain Atom but to those kids from the Royal Flush gang."

"Spare me your righteous indignation act, Stewart," David sneered. "You knew they were scum, but you refused to act and didn't have the balls to flush the toilet when the shit piled up." Then he smirked at Superman again. "As for my attitude, look at it this way; better to have suffered a fall than be bound for one."

"What do you mean?"

"Your whole world is where mine was over twenty years go. You still have this deluded set of ideals and outdated concept of good and evil. I hate to break it to you, but those become meaningless when you got people who only care about power. It's even worse when they can justify their need for power because they are doing it 'for the greater good', 'making the world a better place', or some other shit like that. Mind you, I think CADMUS truly is out for power and total control, particularly Waller and Eiling. I don't think they really give a shit about the world so long as it's THEIR world and everything is done THEIR way."

David's expression darkened and he shook his head.

"Things are going to come to a head really soon. Someone's going to do something bad and the other side is going to snap and do something worse in retaliation. What's sad is that you just don't quite see it yet."

"You'll have to forgive us if we don't entirely believe you," J'onn said as he moved to stand next to Superman.

David smiled at the Martian. "Still trying to play the diplomat while trying to break into my mind again, J'onn?" He paused for a moment as he contemplated something, then he let out an evil chuckle. "Now that I think about it, that sounds like a good idea. You wanna' take a peek in my head, fine, here you go!"

"What are you-" J'onn started to say before he suddenly seized up. His eyes glowed briefly for a moment before he dropped to the knees, clutching his head and screaming in agony.

"You wanted in my head, Martian, so I dropped my firewalls and you just fell right in. You may be a badass telepath being able to go into peoples minds, but this is MY mind." David glared down at the Martian, ignoring the shocked gasps and cries from the other League members to stop what he was doing. "My mind," David repeated. "My mind, my castle, MY RULES!"

Images rapidly flashed through J'onn's mind; memories, sounds, sensations, voices...it was like being hit by a tidal wave and having been caught unprepared. He saw images of superhumans being killed in over two hundred different ways, he saw men with tasers and brass knuckles beating on a young man demanding to know about something called Project Spirit Walker, he saw a little boy gun down six people with one shot per target...and the information kept coming, flooding his neural pathways to the point that even his own mind was being overwhelmed.

He screamed in agony as his world suddenly went white and then...oblivion claimed him.

* * *

"Hey...yo...wake up."

J'onn was aware of someone tapping him on the shoulder.

"Paging Mr. Martian Manhunter...your turn to audition for a remake of Orson Welles' 'War of the Worlds' has come."

"What?" J'onn's head snapped up from the table he was apparently resting his head on. A second later, he realized he wasn't in the Watchtower's detention area. Instead he was sitting at a table in what appeared to be a cafe that was apparently empty though it looked like people did frequent it judging by the stocked shelves and some steaming cups at various tables.

"Welcome to my mind," David said as he appeared at the other end of the table wearing jeans and a t-shirt, a coffee cup in hand. "Sorry about the theatrics back there, but I felt it would be easier just to talk to you directly like this instead of dealing with Superman's cluelessness and Green Lantern's douche-baggery." He handed J'onn a coffee cup. "Mocha?"

J'onn cautiously accepted the coffee mug as he glanced around the empty cafe. "This place...this is from your world?"

David smiled at him and took a sip of his drink. "Yep. The Neon Cafe, it's the cafe run by a friend of mine on the main level of my office building. Figured I'd bring you here to calm down after your little visit through my memories."

"This is your mindscape?" J'onn asked, amazed at what he was seeing. "For you to create something like this must take a lot of mental discipline." He then took a sip of his drink, and was surprised at the taste and texture. "Salted Caramel?"

David grinned. "It's what you wanted, right?"

"This mental simulation is remarkable. Even the most mentally disciplined humans aren't capable of-"

J'onn's eyes widened in realization as he recalled some of the memory fragments he saw in David's mind.

"Mental simulation," he repeated. "This is a form of virtual reality...you're not human at all...you're-"

"Yes?" David asked encouragingly. "Go on."

"You're some sort of machine, but you're physically human...a biological construct with a computerized mind?"

"Something like that," David chuckled. "An AI algorithm encoded on a chip and placed in a genetically engineered specimen."

"You're like Brainiac!" J'onn exclaimed.

"Please," David snorted, rolling his eyes in annoyance. "Do I look like an alien AI suffering from delusions of godhood to you?"

"No, but I now understand why CADMUS went to your world," J'onn replied. Then his expression softened. "And I also understand why you are angry with us...and yourself."

"Be very careful with what you do with that knowledge, Martian," David chuckled in warning. "Some things are not meant to be shared for a reason. But I'll let you in on a little secret...the whole little spiel in your detention cell, that's me just fucking with you guys."

"Why the whole facade? Why not just talk to us directly like you are now with me?"

"Think about it, Martian. Two of your number already think I'm some evil monster from another dimension and Superman is...well...he's only going on what data you pulled from CADMUS. They expect me to be an arrogant asshole, I might as well oblige them." David smiled again and leaned back in his chair. "Besides, I can kill some time on your station while I deal with mess CADMUS unleashed on your world."

"Like Case Black?"

The amusement on David's face vanished immediately. "Case Black," he repeated. "How do you know about him?"

"Aside from the random thoughts from the initial onslaught prior to my arrival here, he was involved in an attack on Lex Luthor."

David slammed his mug down on the table. "Damn...the fucker certainly didn't waste time once he got out, did he?"

Before J'onn could ask what David meant, he heard laughter behind him. "Oh, don't be so fucking dramatic, kid." He turned around to see a duplicate of David standing there dressed in a black business suit. "To be fair, I'm still here, it's just a copy I uploaded out there." He then spread out his arms. "So hey, what do you think of the new look?"

David slowly got up from the table, his eyes glowing slightly. "I was wondering if you were going to show up."

Case Black laughed and shook his head as he clapped in mock applause. "Oh wow, such anger, such menace….I'd be afraid if you could actually harm me, but we both know you can't." He then turned his attention to J'onn. "But I gotta' admit, it's cool that I get to meet a real Martian. Hi, I'm Case Black, a fragment of an AI template and I'll be the guy who is going to make your world burn just for the hell of it. Well...not ME, exactly, but the copy of me I managed to allow CADMUS to rip out David's brain here."

"And what are you, exactly?" J'onn asked, his eyes narrowing in suspicion.

Case grinned and looked back at David. "Oh, you haven't gotten to telling him about us yet? Oh man, this is going to be fucking awesome!"

"You are not welcome here," David said.

"And what are you going to do, kiddo? You can't kill me here, just like I can't do anything to you...but out there, in the real world, just imagine how much shit my copy is gonna' do out there." Case grabbed a coffee mug from one of the nearby tables and slammed back its contents. "Damn, that seriously is a fucking rush. Well, I'd love to stay and chat, gentlemen, but I've got a cool show to watch."

A blast of blue-white energy exploded from David's right hand, impacting Case in the torso before ripping through him. Case staggered back a couple feet before looking down at the hole in his chest. "Really? Don't you think that was a little uncalled for?"

J'onn watched in horrified fascination as Case Black's "mortal wound" healed up and his business suit reformed over it as if nothing had happened.

Case then smirked at the two men. "Well, it's been fun, I'll see myself out. But David, feel free to answer J'onn's question about what we are. Go ahead and tell him EVERYTHING, I dare you. Because I'm curious to see what he and his precious little League will do when they learn the truth about us. Oh...and Martian, feel free to tell your fellow League members to kill David. Yeah, it will kill me and Davey boy here, but it won't stop my newly born copy from burning your world to a cinder. On the other hand, it might make your Green Lantern feel better for a couple days before he and the rest of you die." He then turned and walked away, his soft cruel chuckle echoing through the cafe as his form dissipated into nothingness.

J'onn turned his attention to David who was now trembling slightly, his fist still glowing as arcs of blue-white energy danced around it for a few seconds before fading away. "Flynn? What's going on?"

David slowly unclenched his fist and the glowing energy dissipated completely. "Oh nothing much, just the annihilation of your world and possibly mine," David replied. "Long story short, there was something safely locked away in my head and CADMUS made the mistake of letting it out." He snapped his fingers and the surrounding area started to ripple out of existence. "Playtime is over and it's time to let the rest of your little club know what they're up against."


	31. Last of the Lucky Days in Hell

_**Disclaimer:**_ Aberrant, owned by Onyx Publishing. JLU, owned by DC/Warner Brothers. Jack Parr, created by Brad Bird, owned by Pixar/Disney (and really glad they don't read my stuff because I think my head would be on a pike). Once again, I want to thank McSlave for the use of Zoe and Slapstick. "Lucky Day in Hell" created, performed, and owned by the Eels.

 _ **Author's Note:**_ Okay, some of you are asking how Question can get all this info...all I'm going to say is "Hey, he's the Question, he has his ways". But seriously, if you've seen the episodes of him in JLU, you know that, out of all the JLU members (except maybe Batman), he would be able to acquire intel from CADMUS. Oh, and just to relieve any fears you might have...no, I'm not going to make a sudden good guy out of Luthor. Lex, in my opinion, is meant to be Superman's counterpart. He will never be a "good guy" in my world. Less of an asshole, maybe, but definitely not a hero. Needless to say, this is kind of a filler chapter.

* * *

 _ **The Watchtower**_

 _ **Medical Bay 2**_

Medical Bay 2 was fairly quiet despite the identity of the patient who was currently resting in a hospital bed and hooked up to various instruments monitoring his vitals. Yes, there were security personnel outside the door and one member (and a possibly soon-to-be-kicked-out one at that) of the Justice League was also in the room sitting in a chair, watching over the patent while also going through the contents on a data tablet.

Question glanced up from the data tablet to look at heavily sedated Luthor and couldn't help feeling a little pity for the man.

 _All this tine, these last couple years, Luthor was nothing but a pawn and he actually believed he was doing things of his own volition. Then again, maybe he was...part of the time._

He returned his attention back to the tablet, dreading what he would discover next.

 _But whatever he and Brainiac had been planning obviously got taken down by this "Case Black"._

Question had spent the last couple hours going over some of the CADMUS data he had managed to lift from installations belonging to various front companies operated by the organization as well as what he managed to pull from the Watchtower's own servers. What he learned from this recently acquired data unnerved him more than "The Conspiracy" that he was trying to uncover.

 _This is much worse,_ he thought to himself. _CADMUS was trying to reverse engineer boom tube technology and, though they failed, they discovered something else instead._

The mere thought of someone like Waller and her organization having any sort of Apokolips tech was scary enough, but this...this scared the hell out of him as he poured through the data.

 _A whole alternate world that is more on the edge than our own...and they decided to kidnap the one being who makes Lex Luthor look like a second stringer._

The footage of this David Flynn killing CADMUS' own team of meta humans, slaughtering countless military personnel, thrashing Galatea, making short work of the Ultimen clones, and nearly killing Captain Atom...it was clear the young man was a potential threat.

 _And now he's here...on the Watchtower._

Question shuddered as he remembered how he had managed to hack into the detention block security feed an hour ago while Superman, Green Lantern, J'onn, and Shayera attempted to interrogate their guest. It was actually damn amusing to watch Flynn pretty much verbally trash the Justice League and ignore their attempts to intimidate them.

 _And our so called leaders don't seem to realize how much of a danger he poses to them and the rest of us. He's not afraid of them and that's what's pissing off Lantern and Shayera. If I didn't know any better, I'd say he was intentionally goading them into attacking him._

Yes, it was amusing, until Flynn looked right at one of the cameras and winked. And then it got pretty damn scary when text appeared at the bottom of the screen of Questions data tablet.

 _ **:::HEY, QUESTION...ENJOYING THE SHOW?:::**_

Question immediately cut the link to the detention cell and went back to going through the data he had taken from CADMUS and the Watchtower's servers involving their most recent activities. An hour later, he was even more horrified when he read what Waller had plan to do in "conclusion" of their acquisition.

 _No...I knew Waller would do anything to acquire an edge against her perceived enemies, but not this!_

A soft groan made broke him out of his thoughts and he looked up to see Lex Luthor beginning to stir. "Welcome back to the land of the living, Luthor."

Luthor's eyes snapped open. "What-" He pushed himself up on his elbows and looked around. "Question...that means I'm," his eyes widened in horror and he tried to get up. "The Watchtower, we need to-"

"Whoa there," Question said as he got up to push Lex back down in the bed. "We know about the Binary-Fusion reactor, remember? You warned us before lapsing back into unconsciousness."

Luthor let out a bitter laugh as he dropped back onto the bed. "The irony is that I probably would have come up with a plan like that on my own."

"Well, technically, you did," Question said. "Granted, you weren't entirely in the driver's seat, but it did have your egotistical flair and style. If it makes you feel better, I'll make sure you get the credit when you face charges for your crimes." Then the blank-faced vigilante snickered softly. "Then again, you probably won't be on the top of the list that people will want to hang."

"Thanks for that cheerful thought," Luthor sneered before wincing in pain. He glanced down and noticed that he was bandaged up. "Okay, making snide comments with a couple broken ribs may not be a good idea. But before we continue to trade snide comments, can you explain how I got here?"

"What all do you remember?" Question asked.

"I was in my office after having talked to Waller and then I-"

Luthor stopped in mid-sentence as he was assaulted with images. For a moment, he was back in his office, preparing to enter his hidden lab where his...no...Brainiac's secret project was. Then the entrance to the lab opened to reveal….himself?

 _ **"Well now. this is very awkward."**_

Lex remembered grabbing for a weapon when his doppelganger threw him across his office. He now recalled how he broke his rips from the impact against the reinforced glass panels of his office.

 _ **"Now, Lex, that was bad manners, wasn't it? Pulling a gun on a guest...very poor manners indeed."**_

"Wh-who the hell are you?"

 _ **"Now, Lex, I am deeply hurt by that question. Don't you recognize that little science project just sitting in your little hidden lab? Ah, no...no...this just won't do. How about I take a more familiar form."**_

He watched in horror as the Amazo copy he had created morphed into David Pine Flynn.

 _ **"After all, I did kind of promise I was going to burn you."**_

 _ **"Flynn!"**_

 _ **"Not exactly. Call me Case Black. Think of me as this sort of dormant digital parasite that was living in Flynn's brain for the last eight years. But then again, I don't need to explain that concept to you, do I?"**_

"Lex..."

Luthor's eyes widened even more in fear as Flynn's Doppleganger shot him with something….and his world started to ripple away into nothingess.

 **Error...Error...core data matrix corrupting...data cohesion failing…**

He remembered fighting to keep from drowning in his mind as he was being overwhelmed by nothingness that threatened to consume him.

 **Error...Error...core data matrix corrupting...data cohesion failing…**

"Lex!" Something hit him across the face, dissipating the memories and bringing him back to reality. "Snap out of it!"

Luthor absently rubbed the side of his face. "Did you just punch me?"

"Yeah," Question replied. "You were freaking out. What did you see?"

"Case Black."

"Yeah, you mentioned him before."

"Did I? He's David Flynn...no...wait…."

Lex shook his head again as he tried to remember what the construct had told him.

"He said something being a 'dormant digital parasite' living in Flynn's brain for the last few years."

"Hmmm….similar to the way Brainiac resided in yours," Question mused.

"Yes, but Brainiac was hiding inside me, controlling me….this Case Black...he acted like someone who had escaped a prison."

"Well, your friends at CADMUS had Flynn imprisoned."

Lurhot shook his head. "No, it's not that. It sounded as if..." he trailed off again as the realization hit him. "Oh, god...no…he said he was in Flynn's mind for close to eight years."

"Lex?"

"What if he was a prisoner...locked up in Flynn's brain?"

"And with Flynn's ability to mentally link to electronic systems combined with your friends at CADMUS torturing him, this Case Black managed to escape."

Luthor's face paled even more. "It's worse than that," he said. "He's running around in a nanotech based construct I built using the late Anthony Ivo's research."

"Wait, are you telling me that you built a second Amazo android?" Question asked. One look at the fearful look on Luthor's face was all the confirmation he needed. "Well...shit. We really are screwed."

* * *

 _ **The Watchtower**_

 _ **Founder's Conference Room**_

An uneasy silence dominated the Conference room as J'onn studied the faces of everyone gathered around the table. It had been an hour since he had regained consciousness from his little trip into David Flynn's mind and he still found himself a little shaken from the experience.

When J'onn regained consciousness, he found Green Lantern and Shayera frantically trying to bring down the security field while David merely stood there in his cell smiling at them. After assuring his friends he was fine, J'onn then shocked them by telling them to release Flynn. It also didn't help that David offered to shut the security field down for them before doing just that by mentally shutting down the field. This action prompted Lantern and Shayera into attacking the young man despite J'onn's warnings before they were taken down by the detention area's security measures.

Superman was about to attack but stopped when the boy looked at him and shook his head. "Don't do it, Clark. There are defenses built into this station that can take you down. Please don't make me use 'em."

J'onn had suspected what David had meant having been through the young man's mind and made a mental note to privately confront Batman about some of the Watchtower's "hidden capabilities". He also realized THAT particular subject would also have to be addressed perhaps immediately after this crisis was dealt with...if they managed to survive it.

So here they were back in the conference room, the table had been expanded to accommodate David, Zoe, and Jay Robertson who were quietly discussing something amongst themselves. J'onn noted how David's demeanor changed almost immediately. One moment, he was the smug and arrogant bastard that was going out of his way to piss off the Justice League, then he would be the concerned and thoughtful young man talking to his friends the next.

 _It's interesting,_ J'onn thought to himself as he watched the three interact. _Flynn cares for these two, particularly the Kilmarten girl. He and Jay Robertson seem to be on decent terms as well; they may not be friends, but they seem to be well acquainted._

Batman had reluctantly returned to the station, annoyed that he had been pulled away from the situation developing in Arkham. Like J'onn, he was studying the trio at the other side of the table. It was obvious that the Dark Knight wasn't happy with these three.

 _Or he's more likely upset at the two other visitors from their world._

J'onn was also curious at Batman's reactions to David Flynn. He had initially expected Batman to be acting in a similar manner to Green Lantern (albeit more in control of his emotions), but Batman's attitude towards Flynn was more of a cold indifference which, in J'onn's opinion, was a sign of mutual respect. J'onn was also aware that Batman had disabled the security measures to the detention cell when he originally interrogated Flynn.

At first, J'onn was concerned with Batman's actions until he realized why Batman had disabled everything.

 _He must have known, or at least suspected, what Flynn was capable of and figured it would be best to remove any immediate advantages he would have by temporarily disabling all electronics in the area._

What was even more interesting to J'onn was Batman quickly leaving the Watchtower after interrogating Flynn. Though he was unable to read the man's mind, J'onn could tell that something set the man on edge and it wasn't David Flynn.

 _I really would like to know what Flynn told him, because he's more agitated than usual and it's not because of those two other visitors running amok down in Arkham._

Superman cleared his throat before he started to speak. "I'll go ahead and get right to the point, Mr. Flynn. What do you know about Case Black?"

"How much do you want to know?" David asked. There was no arrogance or cockiness in his voice, just cold determination. J'onn could tell the young man was mentally struggling with how much of the truth he should tell.

"Everything," Superman ordered, but then he softened his voice slightly as he realized that was probably not the best route to take with Flynn. "Look, this Case Black managed to take down Luthor before we even knew what was going on and now he's gone to ground. We need to know everything you know so we can deal with him when he resurfaces."

Again, David seemed very hesitant and J'onn saw him momentarily glance in Zoe's direction.

 _That's what's bothering him, he's afraid of what Kilmarten will think if she hears the truth._

After a couple more seconds, David let out a resigned sigh and nodded. "Fair enough, but I want something in exchange."

"This is not a negotiation," Green Lantern snarled. "You tell us what we know so we can clean up your mess!"

There was no sarcasm or flippant facade as David stared right back at Stewart. "Stewart, this is not negotiable. You either agree with my one simple request or you can watch your world burn. And no, this is not me being dramatic. Case Black can do everything I can do and possibly more given what he's downloaded himself into. You want to stop him, you're going to need MY help to do it."

"And what, exactly, is your request," Shayera asked, disdain in her voice at having to work a deal with someone she viewed as a terrorist.

"Amanda Waller," David replied. "I get her when this is over."

"Absolutely not," Superman said. "She may have crimes to answer for, but I will not hand her over to you just so you can kill her."

David smiled coldly. "Kill her," he said, laughing softly for a moment as he shook his head. "Oh no, Clark, she's not getting off that easily. Believe me when I say that I do not want her dead. She dies, she becomes a martyr for others who support CADMUS."

"Then what do you intend to do to her?" Wonder Woman asked.

"You want an honest answer?"

"Yes."

"Fine, I intend to publicly crucify her and her closest associates in public before leaving them broken, their secrets exposed, and their organization burned to ashes. She will be very much alive and physically unharmed when I'm done with her. The whole world will know what she and her people were up to and they will also see what has been hidden from them for the last few years." David paused to let that sink in before he continued. "Then I'll turn her over to the proper authorities on your world and let them throw the book at her and bury her in the deepest hole they can find as they try to cover their own connections to her. My guess is that she'll probably be dead within days of being taken into custody, but I'm okay with that. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is my price: Waller for a chance to save your cesspool of a world from something you are hardly prepared for."

"And if we don't agree?" Batman asked.

David shrugged and leaned back in his chair. "Zoe, Jack, and I will leave and try to figure out a way back home on our own and leave your world to burn."

Zoe looked startled at David's response. "David?"

"Sorry, Zoe, those are the only options they have. They agree to our terms or we let them die."

Zoe was in shock. "B-but you can't mean that, there are good people here," she said.

"There would good people back home too, Zoe." David didn't bother to hide the bitterness in his voice as he gestured at the Justice League. "But these so called 'good people' fell asleep at the switch which allowed some really bad people to kill some of ours."

"Wait, hold on...some of ours?" Zoe's face paled in horror as she realized what David was saying. "David, what are you talking about?"

David looked at Zoe. "Remember what I told you earlier about CADMUS making multiple strikes on our town as a distraction? Those were just the low level grunts doing their job while their heavy hitters hit us at home." He then looked back at Superman. "Ricky Ortega, Crystal Hayes, Larry Kramer...three meaningless names to you, but three close friends of mine murdered by your cousin's clone and her little glee club of the damned."

"L-Larry's dead?" Zoe's eyes started to tear up. "Why didn't you tell me earlier?"

"I wanted to, Zoe, but I also knew if I said anything to you back then, the League here would use that information against us."

"Now you're being dramatic," snorted Green Lantern.

"Am I, Stewart?" David's eyes started to glow slightly as he glared at the other man. "Tell me, what would you do if you saw your friends killed in front of you? What would you do as you saw the rest of your friends, people you consider family, getting hurt? I'll tell you what I did, I got pissed, and decided to kill those responsible. If Lawton hadn't shot me in the back, Galatea would be nothing but a greasy smear being examined in a lab right now."

"Wait, you were shot too?"

"Not now, Zoe." David leaned back in his chair, still keeping his eyes locked on Stewart. "And while I was a guest at CADMUS headquarters, do you know what Waller threatened me with? She said if I didn't cooperate, they were going to send Galatea back to my world and order her to level the damn city. What she didn't mention, but I learned later, was that she also intended to launch a missile with a warhead similar to the one General Eiling used on San Baquero on MY city after Galatea returned from her mission. And you have the fucking gall to call me some little 'punk' and accuse me of being a mass murderer? As far as I'm concerned, I acted to protect my home since your little club up here in the sky can't be bothered to deal with real threats."

"That's enough," J'onn said, getting everyone's attention. "Flynn, I understand that you and Green Lantern have some issues to resolve, but now is not the time. If we agree to your request, will you tell us everything we need to know?"

"Yeah."

"Then we have a deal."

"You can't be serious!" Shayera exclaimed. "That man is a terrorist."

"Hey, I haven't occupied and tried to destroy a planet," Jay Robertson said, throwing in his two cents. J'onn noticed the man's hatred for Shayera almost mirrored the hatred Flynn had for Green Lantern. "But if Dave here is a terrorist, I guess it's okay if I still think of you as a war criminal."

Shayera was about to snarl out a response, but was cut off by a new voice.

"So this is what's become of the founders." Everyone turned to see The Question stepping out of the shadows. "I don't know if I should be assured that you're as flawed as the rest of us mere mortals you look down on or frightened that you're bickering like children in a schoolyard."

"How did you get in here?" Batman asked.

"Undetected and very quietly," Question replied before turning to address David Flynn. "Mr. Flynn, I'm certain you know who I am since you went through CADMUS' files so I'll be blunt. Yes, they kidnapped you, hurt you, killed your friends...suck it up and focus. This Case Black is out there and Luthor is freaking out about it, but that doesn't matter. What does matter is that there is something out there with your face, your abilities, and it took down one of the most dangerous men on the planet faster than it takes your Ms. Kilmarten to chug back a mega-sized mocha shake with fourteen shots.

"We need to know what we're up against and, despite your attitude, I don't believe you're willing to condemn an entire world to death. That's something Amanda Waller would do, not you. You may not be human, but you have more humanity than she does."

David's eyes narrowed in suspicion. "What makes you sure of that?"

"Because you could have killed most of us and crippled this station with a thought." Question paused and looked at the rest of the League members in the room. "What, you think Batman's the only one who managed to breach CADMUS' files?"

Then he turned back to reface David.

"So let's stop the cock swinging contest you and Lantern are having and focus on the actual threat."

"Whoa, wait a second, I think you lost me," Flash said. "What do you mean by he 'could have killed us and crippled the station'?"

"Think about it for a second, Flash. Flynn is to technology what J'onn is to the human mind. He can mentally link to it and do whatever he wants with it." Question paused, letting that sink in with the others before he continued. "That's why CADMUS wanted you, isn't it, Flynn? You were the ultimate prize, a weapon that could come up with ways to kill various members of the Justice League. They just didn't count on their potential 'asset' to not cooperate and tell them to go screw themselves, did they?"

A genuine smile appeared on David's face. "No," he replied. "And you are not the crazy crackpot conspiracy nut-job you allow them to believe you to be."

"This isn't about me, Flynn, it's about your doppelganger and the safety of our world. And, as I said before, I don't believe you're willing to condemn an entire world of billions to die just because of a handful of pretentious idiots suffering from delusions of godhood and self-importance."

"Hey!" Green Lantern snapped as he caught the momentary glance Question had thrown in the direction of the other members of the League.

Question ignored Stewart's outburst and focused on Flynn. "I've read the intelligence reports that CADMUS made concerning your world, Flynn. I can understand why you distrust the League, but please remember they are NOT like Project Utopia and Green Lantern is NOT your Caestus Pax."

David shook his head. "It wouldn't take much to make them like that," he said.

"And it's up to people like me to make sure they don't go down that road," Question countered. "Less than twenty-four hours ago, I was committed to murdering someone in cold blood to prevent something I believed was going to happen, but an unforeseen variable threw everything off and things have turned out differently. But make no mistake, I would do it again in a heartbeat if the situation called for it."

David stared at the featureless mask. Though he couldn't see Question's face, he could imagine the man's facial expression was one of grim determination and the willingness to pay the ultimate price to do the right thing. After staring at the featureless mask for a few more seconds, David finally nodded.

"Fine," he said before glancing up at Zoe. For a moment, he hesitated again, but forced it aside. He could deal with the fallout of this conversation later. Question was right, they had to know.

"It started about eight years ago..."

* * *

 _ **Arkham Asylum**_

 _ **Where everybody shares your pain…**_

Pamela Isley, otherwise known as the plant creating/controlling eco-terrorist Poison Ivy, shook her head clear of the fading effects of the anesthetic gas Arkham kept pumping into her cell that kept her in a semi-weakened state. She could feel her body also starting to react to now clean flow of fresh air coming from the ventilation system. The itching sensation she felt all over was warning enough for her to strip out of her Arkham issued jumpsuit as her body rapidly healed and she started to resume her normal plant/human hybrid form.

A few minutes later, after fully regaining her mental bearings, she noticed a few things. One, there were guards no walking past her cell. Two, she noticed a severed arm wearing the remains of an Arkham guard's uniform lying on the ground in front of her cell in a puddle of blood. Three, she could hear music, actual music and not the elevator/new age enlightening crap, coming through the PA system though the musical selection was enough the convince her that the inmates had probably taken over the asylum. Then again, that may have explained the dream she had earlier while she was still under the effects of the gas.

 _If I ever hear "The Safety Dance" again, I will kill someone regardless of their gender._

She had this weird dream where she, Harley, and a short anthropomorphic Venus flytrap dressed up as a jester were walking through a field while approaching some medieval village.

"Hey, Red! You in there?"

 _Speak of the Devil._

"Harley?" Ivy asked, not too surprised that the former psychologist might somehow be involved.

Harley grinned as she stepped in front of the cell, lightly drumming her fingers on the reinforced plexi-alloy wall. "The one and only...we would have come for you sooner, but things have gotten a little busy."

"We?" Then Ivy frowned as she realized what this meant. "So you're doing Joker's bidding again."

Harley's expression darkened for a moment. "He wishes," she growled before suddenly giggling. "Oh no...Joker's no longer in control, you can thank Doctor Pickens for that."

 _Pickens?_ Pam was not familiar with that particular therapist's name.

"Who?"

Harley frowned. "Sadly, he's not here anymore. I think he left after our session...which is probably good since everything went crazy."

Ivy gave the crazy blonde a skeptical look. "Harley, we're in Arkham, everything IS crazy."

Harley tilted her head to one side. "Hmmm, you got a point there, Red. But y'know what, that doesn't matter. I figure it's only fair that I spring you before the rest the crew I fell in with break outta' here." She pulled out a key card that she had found on the body of one of the dead guards and slid it through the slot on the control panel to Ivy's cell. A second later, the see-through wall slid open. "And there ya go, Red. You're free."

"Aren't you coming with me?" Ivy asked.

Harley shook her head. "Not this time, Red. I'm going to stick around these guys for now. They're pretty fun."

Ivy rolled her eyes, she knew that Harley's idea of fun usually meant being 'batshit insane'. She stepped out of her cell and looked around. That was when she noticed the large body curled in a ball and lying in a pool of blood. She was also horrified when she recognized the body. "Is that Bane?"

Harley glanced over where Ivy was pointing. "Huh? Oh yeah, that's Bane...or at least it was."

"Was?"

"Yeah, he kind of pissed off Nick, one of the guys I'm hanging out with. So Nick teleported Bane's package off and tossed it somewhere at the other end of the corridor."

It took a moment for Ivy to process what Harley told her. Despite her general hostility toward men, even she shuddered a little as she realized Bane probably bled out quickly given how much blood tended to flow to that particular part of the human anatomy. After a couple more seconds of shocked silence, Ivy managed to come up with a proper response. "Oh."

Harley giggled at the older woman's response. "Damn, Red, you really should see your face right now."

Ivy really didn't know what else to say. "Harley, who hell have you fallen in with?" Oh, wait, did she ask that question out loud?

Harley gave her a toothy grin. "A couple guys from outta' town," she replied. "They claim to be from some alternate version of Earth. They could be crazy or they could be telling the truth. They've been in the ISO-Wing for the last few days after they killed a bunch of the more violent inmates in the cafeteria on their first day. They're still trying to find the body parts of one of the guys they killed."

"So they're responsible for what's happening now?" Ivy asked as she and Harley started to walk down the cell-block that led to one of the main corridors in the asylum. She saw a few bodies of more Arkham inmates and a couple guards as well.

"Yes and no," Harley replied. "You see, someone tried to kill these guys, yours truly, and Jimmy Olsen in the ISO-Wing. When that failed, the power went out and most of the cells, except yours obviously, opened up when it flickered back on. Joker, as he always does, managed to take control. He ordered Jean and Nick to hand me over, they told him to go fuck himself, and then he sent people to take us out."

Ivy was about to say something when the music coming from the PA system cut out.

"Listen to me you little fucks," the Joker's voice snarled. "You two are nothing! You hear me? NOTHING! When I get my hands on you I'll-"

Joker's voice was cut off again, only to be replaced by...the Joker?

"Ooooh, Batsy? You know I've been bad, right?"

"Oh yeah, little clown," rasped the Batman's voice. "And tonight, me and my little big Bat are going to dish out justice on your pasty white-"

Ivy couldn't believe what she was hearing. Joker and Batman sounded like they were having rough sex over the PA system.

"Do it, BATSY! Pound me hard...DO ME LIKE A ROBIN!"

"Oh hell yeah I will!"

Ivy turned to see Harley partially doubled over and clutching her sides as she laughed hysterically.

"Harley, what the hell!?"

It took Harley a few seconds to regain her composure. "Sorry, Red, it's just that Nick, one of the guys I'm hanging out with, is good at doing vocal impersonations. He hears your voice once, he can copy it perfectly. At the moment, he and Jean are jamming the communications and cutting Joker off from the outside world while they make their way over to him."

"Wait," Ivy said as she realized something about the way Harley was talking. "Joker? Why are you calling Joker 'Joker' and not 'Mistah J' or 'Puddin''?"

Once again, Harley's expression darkened as she turned to reface Ivy. "People change, Red. This was a long time coming, but he went too far when he beat the hell out of me last time."

Ivy was confused at this. Joker had beaten Harley to a pulp before, but she was always loyal to the man, like an abused puppy who was still eager to please no matter how many times it was kicked. "What happened, Harley?"

Harley's expression softened a little. "Some doctor did some bloodwork on me and found something. They literally flushed my system out. Then there was the microchips they found, the one in my costume and the one that was placed near the base of my skull under my skin. Apparently Crane and Tetch were instrumental in helping 'Mister J' breaking me." Then she gave Ivy an evil grin. "But Tetch won't be doing anything that stupid anytime soon. I'll catch up with Crane eventually...if he ever gets out of his catatonic state."

Catatonic state?

 _Damn,_ Ivy thought, _what the hell could put Crane in a catatonic state._

"So, anyway, Red," Harley continued. "If you wanna' get out, now's your chance, but you're more than welcome to stick around."

Before Ivy could reply she heard a new song start to play over the PA system.

 **Mama gripped onto the milkman's hand  
And then she finally gave birth**

"Oh goody, I love this song!" Harley squealed.

 **Years go by still I don't know  
Who shall inherit this earth**

Then Ivy could hear two men loudly singing along to the song as they approached from the other end of the main corridor. Both men were wearing torn up and blood stained Arkham jumpsuits. The taller one with black hair and a slight muscular build was carrying a sledge hammer while his smaller and wiry companion was carrying a sword.

 **And no one will know my name until it's on a stone**

 **This could be your lucky day in hell  
Never know who it might be at your doorbell  
This could be your lucky day in hell**

As the song continued, Ivy watched in fascination (and a little bit of horror) as the two men were attacked by three Arkham inmates. The larger man used his sledgehammer to block one of inmates who attempted to stab him with a shiv before headbutting his attacker who staggered back into one of his companions. The third inmate has attempted to attack the smaller man with a nightstick and ended up getting decapitated by the man's sword. Before the head hit the ground, the man spun on his heel and kicked the head down the hall.

Meanwhile, the first man had used his hammer to crush the ribcage of his attacker. Ivy winced as she heard the shattering of bone as it entered the man's chest cavity.

The third inmate, having seen what happened to his two buddies, did what he thought was the smart thing to do...he ran away. Unfortunately, he was running towards Harley and Pam.

"Hold on a second, Red," Harley said as she grabbed the baseball bat that was strapped to her back. A few second later, the man was down on the ground, his face bashed in and more than likely dead from having the cartilage fragments of his nose shoved up into his skull. She then waved at the two men as they approached. "Hey boys, I'd like you to meet a friend of mine. Red, this is Jean and Nick, though they go by the codenames Bomber and Slapstick when on the job. Guys, meet Ivy."

The two men stopped in their tracks for a moment when they were a few feet away.

"Wait," the black haired man said. "Nick, did she say Ivy? As in 'Poison Ivy''?"

"Yes, Jean, she did indeed," the one called Nick said as he rested the sword against his shoulder. "No offense, lady, but we really don't have time for you to use your allure to mind control us or you attempt to poison us or feed us to a walking venus flytrap that you might be able to conjure up."

"Well, seeing as how you morons were playing the Safety Dance earlier, I wouldn't be surprised if the aforementioned flytrap ended up wearing a jester outfit," Ivy fired back.

"See, I told you that song was just wrong," Jean said to Nick.

"Shut up, Jean," Nick countered before looking back to Ivy. "So, I take it you're a friend of Harley's."

"The best!" Harley crowed as she draped an arm across Ivy's shoulders.

"Okay, good enough," Nick said. "You're more than welcome to hang with us then, though we have a certain grinning asshole we need to deal with."

Ivy's eyes narrowed in suspicion. "You're going to kill him, aren't you?"

Jean and Nick exchanged a couple amused looks for a moment before shaking their heads.

"Nah," Jean said. "If we did that, that would violate Batman's code against killing." For a moment, he managed to keep a straight face, but then he started snorting in silent laughter.

"After all, that would be 'wrong'," Nick snickered. "Killing the Joker would be 'bad' as far as Batman is concerned."

Ivy then gestured with an arm at the inmates the two men had killed earlier. "Killing is wrong? Then how do you explain what you did to those men...and Bane?"

"Um...damn...hold on a sec," Nick said, a thoughtful look on his face. "Jean, help me out here."

"It was self-defense," Jean offered.

"Yeah, that's right," Nick said in agreement. "We self-defensed them to death."

"And Bane?" Ivy asked.

"Um, no, that wasn't self-defense, that was for shits and grins...and he was a giant prick," Nick replied.

"Who briefly became a eunuch," Jean added, causing Harley to burst out laughing.

For a moment, Ivy said nothing. Though she thought little of men in general, she could sense something was different about these two. For some reason, she suspected they could be immune to her allure and her toxic bodily fluids. But there was something else about them that hit her on a primal level...something that screamed that these two were predators a few rungs above her on the natural selection ladder. "I see," she finally said, "so you're not going to kill the Joker."

"Of course not," Nick said.

Jean gave Ivy an evil grin. "Oh no, he's not getting off that easy."

Oh yeah, Ivy decided, these two were definitely above her on the ladder. "Well then," she said, "I'll be on my way. And Harley, when you get out, you know where to find me."

"Will do, Red."

Ivy then turned and started to walk away, trying her best to make sure it was a casual and study pace. The music was still playing as she turned a corner and got out of their sight.

 **This could be your lucky day in hell  
Never know who it might be at your doorbell**

 **In hell...  
This could be your lucky day in hell**

 **In hell…**

 **In hell…**

 **In hell…**

And that was when Ivy ran like hell.


End file.
